Filenews 11 August 2020 - Marilena Panagi
Patients are suffering but are also obliged to pay once or twice in the space of a week the not at all inconseable amount required to undergo a check on the crown, in order to be able to get into their doctor's office and be served.
This is because some private hospitals have decided, in order to allow any patient to enter their facilities, the patient must first present a certificate with a negative indication of the virus. As a result, citizens who have serious health problems and need constant monitoring by their doctor have already paid a few hundred euros out of their own pocket since the relevant certificate is valid for only 72 hours.
Complaints have reached "F" in recent days and dozens of complaints have been received by the Federation of Patients Associations of Cyprus, which has sent a letter since last week to both the Minister of Health Konstantinos Ioannou and to the administration and management of the Health Insurance Agency since some of the hospitals that apply this policy are part of the General Health System.
Typical is the case of a woman who had a scheduled appointment with a specialist doctor on 6 August and two days earlier received a phone call from the doctor who informed her that she had to undergo a test for coronavirus. He even indicated to her that this test is also carried out by the hospital itself. When the woman reacted and asked not to pay the costs to the hospital, the response she got was certainly negative.
A second patient when informed that he had to undergo a test for coronavirus did so without protest by paying the price. However, his doctor asked to see him again in a week indicating that he had to repeat the check for coronavirus since the certificate he held would not cover him for the next visit. The patient reacted naturally since for the second examination he would again pay out of his own pocket the necessary amount.
In a third case, a patient referred to the OSAC made the same complaint while informing that it had contacted the Health Insurance Agency to find out if the GHS was covering this examination. The answer he received was, of course, negative since neither the Ministry of Health, the OPM nor the protocols applied, at the suggestion of the competent authorities, require patients to be examined for the coronavirus for a simple visit to a doctor's office. Patients who will be admitted for hospitalization or surgery in hospitals are required to be examined.
Speaking to "F", OSAK President Marios Kouloumas said that "the complaints that come to us are many and this practice cannot continue". This practice, as he explained, "is not only followed for a patient's visit to a doctor's office but, according to the complaints that come to us, also affects patients who come to these hospitals either to undergo a radiodiagnostic examination or to undergo analyses or even when visiting the Accident and Emergency Departments".
With regard to patients who have scheduled appointments with a doctor, "complaints came to us from citizens who, due to their problem, had to visit their doctor twice in the space of a week and were asked to pay to be tested for coronavirus both times and were even told that the test was being carried out by the hospital itself".
"It is unacceptable," mr. Kouloumas said, "to apply this practice with which we as an OSAC fully disagree. The patient himself cannot bear the cost of a test to which he is obliged to undergo because the management of the hospitals has decided to do so without this being required by the competent authorities". "From then on, this practice poses a serious obstacle to patients' access to health services that are integrated into the GHS and promotes inequality and discrimination among patients," said the president of the OSAC and concluded by saying that "we have requested the intervention of both the Minister of Health and the OHA to ensure that all hospitals that are integrated into the GHS have equal and unhindered access to the services of the GHS".
"F" contacted some of the specific private hospitals, putting the complaints of the patients before them. The hospitals cited reasons of public health as well as the safety of patients and their employees, even claiming that this practice already records losses in their revenues since several citizens refuse to be tested for coronavirus and cancel their appointments.
Desperate residents of free Famagusta
Dozens of complaints arrive in OSAK and from the residents of the free area of Famagusta since due to the new outbreak of the crown, the General Hospital of Paralimni operates as a "reference hospital" so that citizens do not have access to the health services they need.
As the President of the OSAC explained to "F", "the problem is more acute with regard to pregnant women who, against their will and after special arrangements, are referred to private hospitals of the GHS, which operate in their area".
"Women who are pregnant feel indignant because not even the number of gynecologists in the area is sufficient to serve them directly but the most important thing they pose is the fact that the private hospitals in the area certainly do not have the equipment that ensures the feeling of safety in an expectant mother (incubators, infant respirators, etc.)," said the president of organized patients.
And in this case, said Mr. Kouloumas, "as OSAK we have sent a letter last week to the Minister of Health but also to the management and administration of the Organization of State Health Services since we believe that the measures to tackle the pandemic and better serve patients with coronavirus who need hospitalization but on the other hand , the access of local residents to health services by the Famagusta State Hospital should also be ensured without hindrance".
The Federation, the President of the OSAC concluded, "as it did during the implementation of the stricter measures on coronavirus, so it is doing now. We insist that the pandemic must be dealt with in the best possible way and with all necessary measures, but on the other hand we must always bear in mind that people still need health services for other reasons and not just for the coronavirus."