Our health services
Should we trust them?
• Health Minister Vaiz appealed to the public: “Let’s trust our health services” Health Minister Eşref Vaiz said that unnecessary distrust of health services had arisen and asked the public to trust the healthcare system.
Vaiz noted that patients from foreign countries are now applying to receive healthcare in Northern Cyprus, and that some Greek Cypriots or Maronites sometimes choose hospitals in the north to receive treatment sooner.
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When I read the statement, I felt the need to look out the window. Because I had suffered a “brain embolism,” I had completely forgotten where I lived and all that. Either the Minister was talking about another country, or I was living in another country.
The bad part came after I looked out the window.
I was still in the TRNC, and the Minister making these statements was the “TRNC Minister of Health.”
From that point on, I continued reading the statements in a state of “shock.”
In his statements, the Minister talked about goals for 2007 and what had been done so far; but, I have to be honest, my mind was still on his comments that “unnecessary distrust of health services had arisen” and that “patients from foreign countries are now applying to receive healthcare in Northern Cyprus.”
For a moment, I felt like saying, “Bring on all the crows, let’s all have a laugh,” but I didn’t, because it would have been rude!
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First of all, let the Minister know: Sir, no unnecessary distrust of healthcare services has arisen.
As you yourself have said, there is distrust, but it is not unnecessary.
On the contrary, it is justified distrust.
We are talking about healthcare services—from the emergency department to services whose now-outdated technology has become the subject of jokes among the public.
Here’s an example of the kind of thing people say:
- I felt unwell the other day. I went to the hospital.
- Wow, how is that possible? You’re still alive! (eheuehu)
-................
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Also, if what you say is true—which it surely is—then either there is something wrong with the people coming to our country from abroad for “healthcare services so they can receive early treatment”!
Or there is something wrong with our people, who go either to Turkey or to the Greek Cypriot side for healthcare!
At this point, after hearing the Minister’s words, I can’t help wondering: could a “patient exchange program” be operating in the healthcare sector, just like the “student exchange program” in education?
Anyway, let’s say some people are coming to our country for “healthcare services so they can receive early treatment.”
But isn’t that just looking at the full side of the glass?
Besides, as far as we can see, the empty side of the glass is greater in percentage terms.
Because today, dozens of people from our country go to Turkey or the Greek Cypriot side for healthcare.
Well, doesn’t the Minister know this?
I suppose you’d have to ask him…!
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Despite everything, I too agree with the Minister (except on the issue of unnecessary distrust).
You may have had good reason not to trust our healthcare services until yesterday.
But now you should trust them.
The Minister is making some very exciting promises for 2007; I hope he fulfills them.
But the trust I’m talking about is not because of these promises or because things might change!
I’m saying you should trust them because I’m concerned by the question, “How far can a society go if it does not trust the services provided by the country in which it lives?” when it comes to one of the most important things for a person: health. Because this question brings with it another: “How much can such a person love their country?”
For this reason, first of all, we should trust not only healthcare, but all the public institutions and organizations of our state.
If there are shortcomings, we should address them according to our own fields: journalists through criticism, employees of institutions through their ideas, managers through their actions, and so on.
In short, we must all work together to correct the existing shortcomings and mistakes.
Being a restless society that does not trust one another and does not love its country would be a disaster for us all…
We must learn to trust one another…