Patients Rights Bill is ‘back on the agenda’

SHELVED plans to enshrine the rights of patients in law are to be brought back on the agenda, Health Minister Filiz Besim said this week.

Dr Besim said a draft Patient Rights Bill would be dusted off and referred by the Cabinet to a parliamentary committee to be scrutinised — more than 15 years after it was first written.

She made the pledge during a meeting with representatives of the Universal Patient Rights Association (Upra), who presented their Patient Rights Manifesto to her.

The Upra document, produced last June, sets out the “fundamental rights of patients” as well as a ninepoint action plan for the government.

Upra officials also informed Dr Besim about their Patients’ Voice project, which they have been carrying out since March 2016 and which provides information to patients about the standard of service they should expect from health professionals and how to make complaints.

Upra head Emete İmge told Dr Besim of the importance of a “patient-focused healthcare system” and the need to set up a “patient rights unit” to this end.

Speaking to Cyprus Today, Upra board member and project coordinator İzlem Sönmez said Dr Besim had “promised to put the Patient Rights Bill on the agenda of the Cabinet’s next official meeting”, which had been due to take place yesterday.

“Then the Bill will be referred to Parliament’s health committee, which will be chaired by Sıla Usar İncirli, a [doctor and] Republican Turkish Party MP,” she said.

“Once the necessary legal reviews and works have been completed, the Bill is expected to be [put before] Parliament, which might see its enactment.”

Ms Sönmez said Upra had also called for a clause enabling the establishment of a patient rights unit, which had been removed from an earlier draft of the Bill, to be reinserted.

“The new minister acknowledged the importance of this unit [and] signalled that this could be taken into consideration by the parliamentary health committee,” Ms Sönmez said, adding that such a service would also be beneficial for healthcare workers.

“We also highlighted the need to set up a complaints desk at the Health Ministry, where people can lodge their complaints regarding health services.”

Dr Besim said plans to record cancer cases, revealed last week, and a draft Bill on contagious diseases would also be discussed by ministers.