On the occasion of the public consultation conducted by the Ministry of Health for the formulation of the package of laws for the Private Hospitals (Control of Establishment and Operation) Law and the Law on the Establishment of the State Health Services Organization (Amendment) Law, the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB) expresses strong reservations and strong concerns.
The promotion of two separate laws governing the operation of private and public hospitals does not contribute to the creation of a common and equal operating framework for all health providers. In order to achieve equal competition among all, the existence of common requirements and a common legislative framework is an essential prerequisite.
As far as the provisions of the legislation are concerned, they do not correspond to the real needs of the hospitals and are not in line with the data and difficult conditions in which they operate. The requirement of the proposed legislation to increase the number of nurses is a very serious obstacle to the operation of private structures providing health services and will lead to the suspension of the operation of clinics or hospitals entirely.
With recent statements by the Minister of Health himself, it is admitted that with the existing legislation there is still a need for 470 nurses who do not exist in Cyprus. Nevertheless, While the law currently requires one nurse for every 5 patients, the bill will require one nurse for every three beds. With simple mathematics, if this provision is approved in law, overnight our hospitals will need twice as many nurses as those who currently exist and are employed throughout the country.
Also, the building changes and other technical changes required by the promoted legislation are unrealistic for the existing hospitals and in order to be implemented, almost all of our hospitals will have to be demolished.
Similar problems and malfunctions are also caused by other provisions of the legislation.
OEB is sounding the alarm that in case the proposed legislation is approved as it stands, there is a serious risk of suspension of the operation of a large number of private hospitals with all that this entails for the health system of our country.
Taking into account the above and due to the many serious weaknesses that have been identified in the legislation, OEB calls on the Ministry of Health to withdraw the package of amending laws and to resubmit them after substantial consultation with the directly concerned and affected bodies.
