The General Health System has coped with the difficult conditions of the pandemic and is receiving universal support from the citizens, says the President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, adding that the improvement of the quality of health services and the strengthening of the supervision of GHS continue with the Recovery and Resilience Plan “Cyprus_tomorrow” and the channeling of resources, worth €81 mln.
“Three years since the biggest social reform in our country. Three years of equal and quality access to health services. And we are proud because #GESY (GHS) has coped with the difficult conditions of the pandemic, while receiving universal support from the citizens”, he wrote in a post on Twitter.
“We continue with the #Cyprus_Tomorrow Plan and the channeling of €81m to improve the quality of health services and strengthen the supervision of the GHS. Upgrading infrastructure, e-health, specialized care for our children. For our tomorrow, with health”, President Anastasiades also noted.
In his message, Minister of Health, Michalis Hadjipantela said that everyone’s attention must be focused on the continuous improvement and upgrading of the GHS, in dealing with any problems that arise, without changing the philosophy of the system.
As he said, GHS is a social achievement “that was a demand of the society for many decades and with the political will of the President of the Republic Mr. Nicos Anastasiades became a reality”. For three years, he added, GHS has been embraced by the citizens and serves thousands of patients per day.
During these three years, 917,000 beneficiaries have been registered in the list of Personal Doctors, 777,000 beneficiaries visited their Personal Doctors, 756,000 beneficiaries visited specialist doctors, 769,000 beneficiaries procured medicines and 159,000 beneficiaries received inpatient services.
In addition, he stated that to date, 711 personal doctors, 1,969 specialists, 159 laboratories, 1,076 other health professionals, 687 dentists, 587 pharmacies and 58 hospitals are participating in the GHS.
“The GHS not only withstood unprecedented stress conditions, such as the pandemic, but also proved that it can shield public health in the best and most efficient way”, he said, adding that to ensure the viability of the Health System itself, actions are taken by the Health Insurance Organization.
These include, among others, the operation of on-call clinics by personal doctors for adults and children, which will operate in the afternoons and holidays, the inclusion of ER of private hospitals contracted with the GHS, the application of stricter penalties to illegal service providers and / or beneficiaries, the intensification of controls in collaboration with external consultants and the Pancyprian Medical Association, the inclusion in the GHS of additional innovative drugs, and the implementation of a comprehensive information program for the beneficiaries of the System, for the proper use of it and the reduction of abuses, the Minister said.
“We will ensure in every way the existence of the General Health System. The GHS came to stay and belongs to the citizens of this country, to its providers and beneficiaries. I appeal to everyone to protect the biggest reform that took place in our country since 1960 as the apple of the eye”, Hadjipantela concluded.
Source: Cyprus News Agency