A series of measures on transferring and examining detainees at public hospitals, handling psychiatric cases, the operation of the State Pathology Service and delays in medical negligence cases were agreed on Friday at a meeting between Justice Minister Costas Fitiris and Health Minister Neophytos Charalambides. Law Commissioner Sophia Kleopa Hadjikyriacou also took part in the meeting, which agreed specific interventions aimed at improving procedures and reducing delays. On the transfer of detainees to public hospitals, it was decided to reserve dedicated parking spaces for police vehicles bringing detainees to accident and emergency departments, and for detainees to be examined as a priority. At the same time, specially designed holding areas will be created in hospitals to limit the long hours police officers spend guarding detainees.
For cases falling under the Psychiatric Treatment Law, it was decided to amend the existing legal framework to simplify the procedures for transferring, receiving and handing over people who require psychiatric examination or treatment.
Staffing boost for the State Pathology Service
Particular emphasis was placed on the State Pathology Service. The meeting agreed to strengthen its staffing and to buy in services from external partners to meet increased demand. The service’s protocol will also be updated and modernised and sent to the police, setting out clearly the procedures to be followed and the cases in which a forensic pathologist must be present or assist. Instructions were also given to reopen mortuaries in other towns to reduce the number of cases transferred to Nicosia. The process will begin with the reopening of the Limassol mortuary and will gradually extend to other districts to handle non-forensic cases, while forensic cases will continue to be dealt with in Nicosia.
The discussion also focused on delays in investigating medical negligence cases, caused by difficulties in finding specialist doctors. To address the problem, the Health Ministry will draw up a list of doctors by specialty, from which police will be able to select experts to provide specialist scientific assistance according to the needs of each case. Officials from the justice and health ministries, the State Health Services Organisation (Okypy) and the police also attended the meeting. It was agreed that a new inter-ministerial meeting will be held in the coming period to assess progress in implementing the decisions and examine outstanding issues.
