Opening hours of on-call clinics in Cyprus will change as of September with Saturday’s getting reduced and those on Sunday and public holidays extended, Philenews reports.
Opening hours now are Saturday from 9am to 5pm and Sunday and Public Holidays from 3pm to 7pm.
Come September, opening hours on Saturday will be reduced by two hours and those on Sunday and public holidays extended by two hours.
At the same time, Health Insurance Organisation data shows that one year after the launch of the on-call clinics less patients were recorded at Accident and Emergency Departments (AED) of public hospitals.
Specifically, a total of 287,372 visits were recorded in public AEDs in 2017, and the number dropped to 280,820 in 2018 while a total of 261,651 were recorded in 2019.
In 2020 a total of 166,890 visits were recorded compared to 125,416 in 2021 – the lowest over the past recent years. In 2022, public AEDs recorded a total of 149,551 visits.
At the same time, the HIO said in a report that ” on-call services should not be linked with AEDs visitations” since the seriveces offered are different.
Specifically, on-call services serve primary-level health emergencies conducted in a doctor’s office without other support services such as laboratory or diagnostic tests. Or expanded medical equipment or other medical specialties.
On the other hand, AEDs provide services in cases of emergencies and accidents that pose an immediate risk to a patient’s life.
