The implementation of the Health Capacity Planning is being referred indefinitely

 

21 May 2024, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, sent a letter to the Minister of Health Mihali Damianou, requesting that he be informed whether the Health Needs Plan is among the Ministry’s priorities and what timetable has been set for its implementation. As Stefanos Stefanou points out, in practice it turns out that the Plan’s implementation is being postponed indefinitely, with all that this implies for the sustainability of public hospitals and, by extension, the Health System.

The letter in full:

“In March, the Parliamentary Health Affairs Committee requested an update regarding the completion of the Health Capacity Planning (HCP). The information was provided in writing by the Director General of the Ministry of Health who briefed the Committee in a letter dated 26 April 2024 that the implementation of the Planning is linked to the setting up of an online platform to record all available infrastructures and which has an indicative implementation timeframe the first quarter of 2026.

Although the President of the Republic has on numerous occasions stated that ensuring quality health services is one of the Government’s priorities and while the Health Capacity Planning is listed among the governance programme’s top priorities and despite the fact that the former Minister of Health P. Kanari, gave assurances that the plan would be ready in December 2023, in practice it turns out that its implementation has been postponed indefinitely, with all that this implies for the sustainability of public hospitals and, by extension, the health system itself.

With this letter, please inform us whether the Health Capacity Planning is among the priorities of your Ministry, what the timetable for its implementation is and what actions are being initiated for it”.

21.05.2024