The government must support public hospitals

Statement by AKEL MP Marina Nicolaou following the debate on the 2024 Budget of the Ministry of Health in the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee

21 November 2023

We examined the Budget of the Ministry of Health for 2024 in the Parliamentary Finance Committee.  Although there is an increase in the Budget, there is still a long way to go to catch up with other countries. Particularly due to the big cuts that have been made to the health sector over the past decade.

Unfortunately, once again we see the practice where permanent and fixed needs are covered by contracts and the purchase of services. This also reveals the perception of the Nicos Christodoulides government on public health, which continues to apply practices of the previous Anastasiades/DISY government.

How else can we interpret the phenomenon that instead of public health, public hospitals being supported and upgraded, health services are being outsourced piece by piece to the private sector through the purchase of services and allocation of contracts?

The responsibility for the development and upgrading of public hospitals lies solely with the government, which must answer in practice what character it wants public hospitals to have and what measures it will take to support them.

Towards this end, we called for an extension of the period of financial support for public hospitals, at least for as long as the pandemic lasted. We are pleased that the Ministry of Health considers our proposal to be fair, but it will have to convince the other parties involved. We have also asked for specific timetables for the submission of the country’s health charter, which we have been asking for continuously and which we believe is necessary for the proper development of the health sector.

During the discussion, the need for the government to table the pending bills after necessary consultation with all stakeholders was also raised. Among others, the very important bills on university clinics, ambulances, paramedics and clinical laboratories are pending. We have received assurances and specific timetables have been set, which we will monitor very closely.

With regard to the critical area of mental health, we have deplored the reduction in training and seminar costs for the Mental Health Services, which are aimed at a workforce that has great training needs. At the same time, we called for the expansion of the Limassol Psychiatric Clinic, while we specifically raised the issue of the lack of specialties in the Public Hospitals.

Safeguarding the right to health is more than necessary. Health is a right and a social good, which a state has an obligation to provide for all its citizens. The necessity of having strong public hospitals that will be the guardians of public health is now more than visible.

21.11.2023