AKEL on the Ministry of Health 2019 Budget
Statement by Yiorgos T. Georgiou, AKEL MP and member of the Parliamentary Committee on Health Affairs,
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 12 November 2018, Nicosia
Today we had the opportunity to discuss in the Parliamentary Committee on Financial and Budgetary Affairs, the budget of the Ministry of Health for 2019, as tabled by the relevant Ministry.
This is a conservative Budget that does not address the needs and demands of Public Health and more specifically the needs of Public State Hospitals. The vision addressing the challenges of a major progressive reform of the General Health System is completely absent.
The Nikos Anastasiades government’s “success story” on the economy is in danger of becoming a nightmare for Public Health and patients. Unfortunately, yet another harsh reality is being confirmed which shows that while there was money for the selloff of the Cooperative Bank, expenditure allocated for the people’s Health is inadequate.
The proposed budget on Health for 2019 provides for € 621.993.350 in expenditure. An increase of € 36,039,071 is noted compared to 2018, while the budget for 2017 was € 536,775,412.
More specifically, expenditure of up to € 586,072,057 is foreseen, that is € 35,921,293 for regular expenditure of which just € 4,628,167 will be allocated for developmental expenditure.
By comparison we note that the 2019 budget is less than the 2010 Budget, which provided for € 644,636,335, a figure even lower than 2011, which stood at € 651,473,915 and lower than the 2012 Budget, which in the conditions of the crisis had amounted to 636 million euros.
It is clear that the Anastasiades-DISY government doesn’t consider Health as a public good, nor a constitutional and inalienable right of the people. Unfortunately, the rationale of less state i8ntervention and the policies imposing austerity and cuts have deprived the Public Health system over the years of expenditure that needed to be invested in Public Hospitals. The neoliberal policies, but also the government’s fake declarations, have led our hospitals to decay.
We are counting down for the implementation of the Autonomy of hospitals and the General Health System, but the Anastasiades-DISY government don’t know what it’s doing. Neither have Public Hospitals been expanded as provided for, nor is essential equipment ready, nor are waiting lists coming to an end, nor has the staffing of hospitals been promoted. We are still awaiting the fulfillment of announcements and commitments.
We are in danger, as the Auditor-General too aptly notes in his Report, of permanent private healthcare being practiced as a result of the of the Ministry of Health’s constant referrals to the private sector. The state spends millions on patient referrals to private clinics without correcting its own health system and without equipping hospitals themselves.
Public hospitals are suffocating, under pressure and can’t respond to the competition of the private sector, precisely because they do not have the capacity and sufficiency to cope. Patients are in agony, pain and desperate. The Public health system is not being built, neither in the containers, nor in the corridors.
We warn the people of Cyprus of the heavy responsibilities of the Anastasiades-DISY government for the prevailing situation in Public Health. They have left patients in complete desperation. Social insensitivity is the official policy pursued by the current government ruling forces.
AKEL assures the Cypriot people that it remains firmly committed to promoting the reform of the Health system and with consistency and devotion it shall continue to struggle without vacillations for the implementation of a General Health Scheme.
