Personal physicians are sounding alarm bells over the long waiting time of patients within the state’s general health scheme (Gesy) who are in urgent need to see a specialist.
“An emergency case cannot wait forever for an appointment to become available,” Mary Avraamidou, vice-president of the Society of Family Doctors, told Philenews.
“A mechanism has to be put in place giving priority to those in danger,” she added.
She also said that personal practitioners often find themselves in a difficult situation and are forced to seek free appointments and/or favours from colleagues.
The Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) admits that the problem of waiting time for an appointment with a specialist doctor in the Gesy is real.
And that complaints recorded in the month of August by the Patient Observatory proves this.
One recent example was a cancer patient deemed necessary to be investigated by a doctor with a special interest in hepatology. She was given an appointment for December.
