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<\/p>\nCollaboration between Cyprus\u2019 two sides to ensure the smooth supply of medical supplies to those who need them is \u201cnow a necessity\u201d, former Turkish Cypriot \u2018health minister\u2019 and current \u2018MP\u2019 for opposition party the CTP Filiz Besim said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Her comments come as doctors in the north sound the alarm over medicine shortages, and she explained that this issue is a carry over from the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, the medicine shortage we experienced from time to time in the post-pandemic period are continuing to persist. This is not unique to us. Serious disruptions in pharmaceutical production are occurring worldwide due to the disruption of the raw material supply chain following the pandemic,\u201d she told the Cyprus Mail.<\/p>\n
In the north in particular, she said, this problem has been exacerbated by the weakening of the Turkish lira in recent years, as well as \u201cslowdowns in production in Turkey\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe TRNC largely sources its pharmaceutical needs from Turkey, so any production or supply disruptions there directly impact us,\u201d she said, before going on to point out deficiencies in the north\u2019s own healthcare system which have also contributed to the medicine shortage.<\/p>\n
Those problems, she said, include that \u201cthe state is solely responsible for all drug procurement\u201d, and that there is no drug tracking system in the north, which she said leads to \u201ca lack of oversight and a lack of savings\u201d, while patients themselves are \u201cunable to obtain medication from their preferred pharmacy\u201d.<\/p>\n
Additionally, she said, tenders for medicine procurement are not held on time, \u201cmaking it difficult for patients to access medication and compounding the drug crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n
It is for this reason that she said collaboration between the island\u2019s two sides is \u201cnow a necessity\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reciprocal supply of medicines which may have run out between the two communities is essential, and healthcare services must be made accessible to everyone in need in this small island nation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She added that \u201chealthcare must be a platform for cooperation, not conflict, between the communities\u201d, and that \u201csuch collaboration will foster trust and mutual respect between the communities\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a new understanding of peace in this country, a vision which prioritises people and humanitarian issues without discrimination,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also expressed hope that the bicommunal technical committee on health, as well as other committees which she said newly elected Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman will establish, will \u201cwork much more actively and produce concrete solutions for the benefit of both communities\u201d.<\/p>\n
Doctors had sounded the alarm over the matter earlier in the week, with the Cyprus Turkish medical association saying that it \u201ccannot find medicine for our patients, children, the elderly, and cancer patients\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the result of the incompetence of our so-called \u2018rulers\u2019 who govern us,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The matter had been raised in the north\u2019s \u2018parliament\u2019 on Tuesday night, with Sila Usar Incirli, also of the CTP, having said that \u201cwe have known for some time that there has been a drug shortage in this country, even though the health minister has not acknowledged it\u201d.<\/p>\n
She also raised another issue related to the import of medicine from Turkey, saying that the country has now \u201cgranted the TRNC foreign country status for drug exports\u201d, and that the country does not grant direct export permits for drugs to third countries, further slowing down the export of medicine to the north.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see this as a very serious problem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2018Health minister\u2019 Hakan Dincyurek (above), however, saw things differently, accusing the opposition of \u201ccreating tension in this society by creating the perception that there is a serious drug crisis in the country\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a healthcare professional cannot adjust the dosage according to a patient\u2019s needs with the medication they have to hand, I question them. They should go and check their own qualifications and then tell me something. They could recommend a quarter of a tablet, even though they know they can split it in half, but instead, they say, \u2018hear this scream\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Cyprus Mail reached out to Dincyurek for further comment but received no response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collaboration between Cyprus\u2019 two sides to ensure the smooth supply of medical supplies to those who need them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[163,85,46,482],"class_list":{"0":"post-105983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}