Outgoing health minister pushing for better ambulance service

Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantela said on Tuesday that he will work to promote a bill to parliament on the regulation of ambulance drivers, almost four years after the cabinet approved it.

Hadjipantela also said that he would discuss the issue of university med school clinics at a session of the cabinet scheduled for Wednesday.

Speaking during a visit to Larnaca General, the health minister commented on the ambulance bill saying: “I will try to pass this before the end of my term.”

Regarding the university clinics, Hadjipantela said that “there will be a final meeting today at the ministry and I hope that tomorrow it will be sent to the attorney-general’s office and if I succeed it will also go to the cabinet.”

The minister also visited Famagusta General, where he commented on the operation of the dialysis clinic. He said that people failed to believe it would be possible for a dialysis unit to operate at the hospital, but in the end the ministry made it a reality and the patients are extremely satisfied.

Asked to give advice to the next health minister, Hadjipantela said that there are exceptional people working in the public health sector and that they should be embraced.

Hadjipantela also thanked the people working in the state hospitals for their service.

“From the first day that I took on the position, they [the hospitals] were my second home and the doctors, nurses, and staff my second family,” he said.

He wished, as he said, before leaving the health ministry, to visit all hospitals.

“I will try to see everyone one by one and say a big thank you to them for being by my side throughout this wonderful journey, thank them, hug them and assure them that I will always be by their side,” he said.