EUROSTAT figures confirm Anastasiades-DISY government’s insensitivity to public health
Statement by Charis Polycarpou, Head of the Economic Research Bureau of the C.C. of AKEL
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 13th March 2018, Nicosia
One after the other, the figures released by the European Statistical Office “EUROSTAT” confirm the social insensitivity of the government of N. Anastasiades – DISY party.
The European Statistical Office published the level of public spending throughout the member-states of the European Union. Cyprus holds the bottom position in the table concerning public health spending with expenditure standing at 2.6% of GDP, while the average across the EU stands at 7.1% of GDP. Cyprus also records the second worst performance in relation to expenditure on people with disabilities and the third worst position with regards spending on the elderly.
The government’s dogmatic persistence on reducing spending on health and social protection so as to show increased surpluses in state funds, downgrades the quality of public health and severely hurts the vulnerable groups of the population.
At the same time as the government is boasting about its achievements, thousands of our fellow citizens are suffering. Instead of boasting, a change in policy is imperative so that the quality and level of public health and social protection services are improved.
