a e — a e — Doctors are voicing their outrage following the unexpected overnight raids by Audit Office officials at the accident and emergency departments of both Nicosia and Limassol general hospitals on October 1. The inspections were conducted in a manner deemed offensive by the medical community, raising serious concerns about patient privacy and the integrity of medical data.
Sotiris Koumas, president of the Pancyprian Union of Government Doctors, expressed his frustration about the demands placed on the medical staff. He stated, “The manner in which the inspections were conducted and the demands made by Audit Office officials were offensive and certainly exceeded limits in some cases, as they asked doctors, amongst other things, to prove they had served a patient by presenting data in the electronic files of General Healthcare System beneficiaries.”
Koumas highlighted that no entity has the right to access the medical data of any patient who has visited the A&E, questioning the relevance of patient medical information to the purpose of the Audit Office’s inspections. “This is also a violation of patients’ rights, amongst many other things,” he added.
During the raids, doctors on duty were reportedly asked to present their identity cards to verify their registration as medical professionals on duty that night. Koumas commented, “In other words, you call a doctor to leave his post whilst they are on active duty, and you ask them to show you their identity card. I think this is not the way for the Audit Office to conduct an inspection.”
Adding to the controversy, officials are said to have contacted on-call doctors at home to assess their response times. Koumas explained, “At 1 am and 2 am they were telephoning doctors to check whether they would respond. If this is indeed true, it means that other serious issues arise.” These actions have prompted the union to consider the implications of such practices on the working environment for medical professionals.
While Koumas acknowledged the Audit Office’s mandate to investigate potential abuses of power or misuse of public funds, he firmly reiterated that this does not justify the demand to access patient files. He stated, “With all due respect to the Audit Office and the Auditor General, access to patient files is permitted only to their doctor, and this is why only doctors have access to GHS files.”
The union leader expressed concern about some colleagues who complied with requests to access patient files to confirm their treatments. He noted, “It is also very serious that some colleagues accepted and accessed the files of patients they had served in order to prove it.”
Koumas concluded that the actions of both the audit officials and the doctors who acquiesced to these demands reflect a troubling environment that requires further scrutiny and discussion. He remarked, “The specific behaviours, both from the audit officials and from the doctors themselves, are the result of a climate that has been created and requires both analysis and criticism. Unfortunately, we have set a precedent.”