Re: Has austerity brought Europe to the brink of a health disaster?
Cyprus, the latest Eurozone country to enter a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Troika, is a country with diverse healthcare delivery which has so far never taken up any opportunity for a major healthcare reform mainly because of political indecisiveness(1). To date, Cypriots pay the highest out-of-pocket payment for Healthcare in EU, more than 50 % of their healthcare cost (2).
There are serious consequences from maintaining the current ineffective healthcare ‘’system’’in a time of financial crisis. For example, this resource-starved country is plagued by the misuse of existing resources. Indicatively, there is a lack of evidence-based clinical guidelines, clinical governance and especially medical audit, multidisciplinary team approach, unified healthcare records in order to avoid duplication of visits and tests, lack of gatekeeping system ie GPs, resource-planning, etc.
One area which is beginning to show signs of strain with the current financial downturn is the specialty of radiology. Despite the fact that Cyprus has the highest patient-to-MRI ratio in Europe, the public sector only possesses one MRI unit. With the current turn of patients towards the public healthcare sector, such resources are stretched to the limit with exponential increase in waiting times and an inappropriate use of resources hindering patient safety. For example, CT is used preferentially to MRI in the imaging of the lumbar spine, a test which has a heavy radiation load without much diagnostic information.
Another area of looming concern is oncology, a costly service offered for free; yet early diagnosis of cancer is simply neither a priority nor feasible in the current financial climate and healthcare structure.
Moreover, the private sector is also under enormous strain, and with people not being able to afford it, it is now underused, with private state-of-the-art imaging and other infrastructure sitting idle.
We urge the government and Troika to take the necessary steps, as soon as possible, to slow down this downward spiral that is endangering people’s health and lives. In our opinion, the only solution for Cyprus to come out of its own healthcare maze is to put forward the meticulously prepared National Health Insurance Scheme (3)
1. Samoutis G, Paschalides C. When will the sun shine on Cyprus National Health Service? The Lancet 2011;377(9759): 29
2. Health at a Glance: Europe 2012
3. Restructuring health systems for an era of prolonged austerity: an essay by Richard B Saltman and Zachary Cahn. BMJ 2013;346:f3972
Rapid Response:
Re: Has austerity brought Europe to the brink of a health disaster?
Cyprus, the latest Eurozone country to enter a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Troika, is a country with diverse healthcare delivery which has so far never taken up any opportunity for a major healthcare reform mainly because of political indecisiveness(1). To date, Cypriots pay the highest out-of-pocket payment for Healthcare in EU, more than 50 % of their healthcare cost (2).
There are serious consequences from maintaining the current ineffective healthcare ‘’system’’in a time of financial crisis. For example, this resource-starved country is plagued by the misuse of existing resources. Indicatively, there is a lack of evidence-based clinical guidelines, clinical governance and especially medical audit, multidisciplinary team approach, unified healthcare records in order to avoid duplication of visits and tests, lack of gatekeeping system ie GPs, resource-planning, etc.
One area which is beginning to show signs of strain with the current financial downturn is the specialty of radiology. Despite the fact that Cyprus has the highest patient-to-MRI ratio in Europe, the public sector only possesses one MRI unit. With the current turn of patients towards the public healthcare sector, such resources are stretched to the limit with exponential increase in waiting times and an inappropriate use of resources hindering patient safety. For example, CT is used preferentially to MRI in the imaging of the lumbar spine, a test which has a heavy radiation load without much diagnostic information.
Another area of looming concern is oncology, a costly service offered for free; yet early diagnosis of cancer is simply neither a priority nor feasible in the current financial climate and healthcare structure.
Moreover, the private sector is also under enormous strain, and with people not being able to afford it, it is now underused, with private state-of-the-art imaging and other infrastructure sitting idle.
We urge the government and Troika to take the necessary steps, as soon as possible, to slow down this downward spiral that is endangering people’s health and lives. In our opinion, the only solution for Cyprus to come out of its own healthcare maze is to put forward the meticulously prepared National Health Insurance Scheme (3)
1. Samoutis G, Paschalides C. When will the sun shine on Cyprus National Health Service? The Lancet 2011;377(9759): 29
2. Health at a Glance: Europe 2012
3. Restructuring health systems for an era of prolonged austerity: an essay by Richard B Saltman and Zachary Cahn. BMJ 2013;346:f3972
email:samoutis.g@unic.ac.cy
web: www.nicosia.sgul.ac.cy
Competing interests: No competing interests