Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-04-21

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

Saturday, April 21, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] Savvides hails health plan approval

[02] Neophytou steps up road safety campaign

[03] Christodoulou answers critics over gypsies

[04] New delay looms in PIO appointment saga

[05] Tsiakourmas' mother critical after stroke

[06] 'Boy aged 15 snatched £30,000 in street from widow, 76'

[01] Savvides hails health plan approval

An ecstatic Health minister Frixos Savvides said later in the morning: "This is the break of a great day for the ministry, the government and the people. This plan is necessary to address problems in health."

The overwhelming majority of deputies, 46 out of 56, voted in favour of the government proposed scheme, which was the last in 90 bills on the marathon Plenum's agenda. The House of Representatives dissolved yesterday at 2.30 am after an exhausting Plenum session, which started on 9.30 on Thursday, ending a five year term in office ahead of the Parliamentary elections on May 27.

All deputies except those of DIKO voted in favour of the plan.

DISY, Social Democratic party KISOS and the United Democrats have been supporting the proposal all along, while AKEL had asked for the introduction of four changes, two of which were eventually adopted.

DIKO opposed the plan as it stood, demanding the introduction of radical changes.

The Plenum also approved a proposal tabled by KISOS deputy Andreas Philippou to change the name of the bill from National Health Plan to General Health Plan.

Under the new law, all employees will contribute two per cent of their wages to the plan. The employer will contribute a further 2.55 per cent and 4.5 per cent will be footed by the state.

The government will not take any public contributions to the scheme until it is ready to deliver services, in approximately five years' time.

The state has introduced amendments to the bill to satisfy opposition demands and avert any more civil service strikes.

Two of those amendments were introduced on AKEL's insistence and provide that pensioners living on less than £300 a month will not have to contribute to the plan and that state hospitals will remain in state hands.

But the government and the House rejected the two other changes that the left-wing party had asked for.

The demands were for employees' contributions to be reduced from two per cent of their wages to 1.5 per cent and for representatives of the public to be present on the board set up to co-ordinate the scheme.

Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said yesterday the new law would be put into effect after thorough and careful planning.

"I assure you the scheme is of vital importance and will be treated as a priority," he pledged.

Savvides stressed that the changes made to the plan would not undermine it, adding that procedures to appoint the General Health Plan Council and to sort out the details of the project would start as soon as possible.

"If we work effectively and intensively, the scheme will be up and running in less than five years," he said.

But the general secretary of civil servants' union PASIDY, Glafcos Hadjipetrou, yesterday expressed worries that the plan would not be viable.

"We are worried that the scheme will lead hospitals to closure and sell off the health sector to private hands. We hope that the new House of Representatives will make all necessary changes to the law to prevent that from happening," he said.

PASIDY called its members out on strike earlier this month in protest at the scheme. They backed down after the government made clear they would retain their current health benefits and would not be asked to contribute until the scheme was ready.

AKEL's parliamentary spokesman Andreas Christou said yesterday his party was not a hundred per cent satisfied with the latest development and that it would try to introduce amendments to the law in the new parliament.

House Health Committee chairman Andreas Parissinos of DISY pledged the House would keep a close eye on preparations to implement the plan and that it would make sure that the scheme provided full medical coverage to all.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Neophytou steps up road safety campaign

The target was announced at a news conference to review the progress made on the roads in the last 18 months.

"We are willing to set a national target that by 2005 the number of road deaths in Cyprus will have decreased by 25 per cent. We will not lose this bet," Neophytou pledged.

The minister said the average annual death toll of 115 was far too high. Another 3,700 are injured on the roads in an average year.

Until March 26 this year, 21 people were killed on the roads, 10 of them drivers, four passengers, six pedestrians, and one motorcyclist.

Of the 14 to die in cars, only two were wearing seat belts. Half of all the fatal accidents were blamed on speed, 21 per cent on negligent driving, another 21 per cent on driver error and eight per cent on violations of traffic codes.

Presenting the statistics, the minister emphasised the vital importance of wearing seat belts, and extended his warning to back seat passengers: "Not only is there a danger of them being killed, but also the possibility that they might kill front seat passengers," he said.

Neophytou boasted an impressive legislative record in the last 18 months, reeling off a series of laws passed concerning road safety, including the new points system, traffic cameras, speed limiters on coaches and heavy goods vehicles, drink-driving measures and a tightening up of the law on helmets and seat belts. He also highlighted extra safety measures, including ramps outside schools, escape lanes at accident blackspots and extra warnings ahead of dangerous bends.

The minister also welcomed the adoption by the Plenum on Thursday of the law on compulsory roadworthiness tests for all private vehicles, adding work was under way to ensure private garages would be approved to carry out the tests by the end of the year.

Neophytou added that a road safety campaign was being prepared and would begin by the end of 2001. Asked if motorists would be shown hard-hitting television adverts like those screened elsewhere in Europe, he said the possibility was being considered.

He added special emergency rescue units had been set up at every hospital: these would work on a 24-hour basis in co-operation with police, and would include helicopter rescue services. The emergency number, he said, had been changed to 112, which is used all over Europe.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Christodoulou answers critics over gypsies

Around 100 gypsies have already been settled in the Paphos district, but 23 on Thursday chose to return to the north after 18 days in the free areas.

Three more are being held on suspicion of illegal entry, while four more, among whom three underage children, were allowed to stay with them because they were family.

On Thursday, the 23 gypsies - 10 children and 13 adults aged from eight months to 45 years old - complained that they had not been taken to Paphos where they could find houses and work.

Instead, they were kept in a purpose-built facility within the Nicosia central prison compound, where they were also provided with food.

Yesterday, Christodoulou defended the government, saying that until now the gypsies had to a great extent "exploited" the monetary help handed to them, and the accommodation in hotels.

"They have to accept that they will be treated like all other Cypriot citizens," Christodoulou said.

The minister said that the gypsies had expected money along with food and lodging, adding that only those people who were not in a position to work would receive government aid.

He said: "As far I can see, they were all in good shape for work."

Christodoulou revealed that there were cases of gypsies who had crossed over several times and returned to the north after cashing in on benefit.

He added: "I do not think that the treatment they received was inferior from that of taxpaying citizens."

Christodoulou reiterated that the gypsies were not prisoners and that they were free to move in an out of the facility where they stayed.

"There is an allegation now that they did not know they had free access," Christodoulou said.

"What is important for them to understand is that they should give the state the chance to confirm if they are gypsies or Turkish settlers.

"It is not written on their foreheads," he added.

"To be able to find out where they come from, the police must be able to have some basic contact with these people," Christodoulou said.

But the Turkish Cypriot press yesterday exploited the gypsy issue.

According to Turkish Cypriot newspapers, the gypsies who returned on Thursday had been kept in police custody since April 2.

A pregnant woman from the group told reporters that she had allegedly been admitted into hospital with handcuffs when her two-year-old child got sick.

The claim was dismissed yesterday by an unofficial police source.

The 23 gypsies were yesterday taken to occupied Morphou where they were going to face a 'court', it was reported.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] New delay looms in PIO appointment saga

The issue has been pending since 1996, when George Hadjisavvas was appointed director after the position became vacant. But many, including applicant Yiannakis Solomou, questioned the appointment, pointing to Hadjisavvas' lack of qualifications.

Solomou duly took legal action against what he considered unfair rebuttal in the appointment process, with the Supreme Court ruling he was the superior candidate on every possible count. The court then urged the Civil Service Commission to comply with the decision, but the Commission ignored the directive, simply cancelling Hadjisavvas' appointment and then re- appointing him.

The same scenario was repeated three times, with the latest Supreme Court ruling coming in early March this year. At the time Solomou told reporters he had no choice but to take recourse to the European Court.

But the affair has now taken a new twist, with Attorney-general Alecos Markides last week appealing the Supreme Court' s latest ruling.

The move could mean that if the case is re-opened, it could take up to one- and-a-half years to settle. But if the court, which convenes in May, decides to throw out the appeal, then the Civil Service Commission would yet again be ordered to appoint Solomou.

"I guess they are just trying to buy time," Solomou yesterday told the Cyprus Mail, wondering why the first ruling had not been appealed.

"It is just not possible to appeal a second, let alone a third, ruling, since the court's decision carries force of final judgment."

He added that, in his appeal, the Attorney-general had "admitted" that eight out of the nine counts on Solomou's suitability as PIO director were valid, but that the Supreme Court judge had "misrepresented" one count.

Solomou added his legal counsel would file a petition against Markides' appeal, adding he was optimistic the appeal would be thrown out. Otherwise Solomou would need to wait for up to over a year until the case is settled.

While the case is pending in Cyprus he cannot take the matter up in the European court, since he must first exhaust all legal means in Cyprus.

Markides was yesterday unavailable for comment.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] Tsiakourmas' mother critical after stroke

She collapsed at about 4.30pm after suffering from hyper blood pressure during the afternoon.

She was rushed to Larnaca General Hospital, where she remains in a critical condition.

Deputy director of General Medicine at the hospital Dr Ioannis Markou told journalists that the stress caused by her son's incarceration had undoubtedly worsened her health.

Her 39-year-old, diabetic son was abducted on December 13 last year, bustled into the north and accused of possessing two kilos of cannabis.

His car was found abandoned, with the doors open and the lights on, along the Pyla to Pergamos road within the British Sovereign Bases.

Speaking from his mother's bedside, Panicos' brother Yiannis yesterday made a dramatic appeal for his family's plight.

He said his mother lived for her son continuously ever since he was seized by the Turks.

The Turkish Cypriot 'court' is convening to hear the verdict in the Tsiakourmas case next Thursday.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] 'Boy aged 15 snatched £30,000 in street from widow, 76'

Eftichia Skettou, from Ayios Dometios, Nicosia, withdrew £3,000 in cash and £27,000 in bills of exchange from a Bank of Cyprus branch in Ayios Dometios yesterday at about 12.30 pm.

"As I was walking home, a teenage boy passed by me on his bike and grabbed the envelope from the bank I was holding in my hand," Skettou said.

Skettou is a widow with three children. She planned to spend the money on her son Sotiris, who is a person with special needs. Skettou said she had been saving the money for a long time and that her children faced financial problems.

The young suspect was at the bank at the same time as Skettou and allegedly followed her when she left to go home. But police said that a policeman in plain clothes, who was also at the bank, suspected that the teenager was up to something and followed him, arresting him later in the day, according to the Police.

The youngster allegedly named two other boys to whom he said had given the money. Police are investigating the case.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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