Cyprus Mail 9 September 2020 - by Evie Andreou
Seven thousand operations have been carried out free of charge within two months of Gesy introducing inpatient care, the head of the patients’ association Marios Kouloumas said on Wednesday.
Kouloumas participated on Tuesday at a meeting with representatives of the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) on Gesy and what needs to be still made chaired by Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou.
“Gesy is there, it has brought many positive results,” Kouloumas told the Cyprus News Agency. He added that in the first two months after inpatient care was introduced in Gesy in June, 7,000 surgeries took place free of charge.
He added that it needs, however improvement. “Problems are expected but we need to dialogue, find solutions,” he said.
CNA, citing sources, reports that the health minister has asked Gesy operator HIO to submit a road map with everything that needs to be done within the coming period to resolve pending issues. They also discussed the need for moves in order to identify possible errors arising from restrictions imposed by HIO on patient visits and treatments.
The minister is to participate on Thursday in HIO’s board meeting.
Kouloumas told CNA that during Tuesday’s meeting, his association discussed abuse of the system, restrictions, quality of services, the problem of patient access to public hospitals, and the afternoon operation hours of state hospitals. Patients requested that the infrastructure is fully utilised to offer them more choices.
According to Kouloumas it has been agreed that subcommittees need to be set up in which patients and doctors participate.