Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

The headlines in the latest issue of the Kibkom Times state that the Near East Hospital has withdrawn its concessionary support for the excellent cancer help charity Tulips. How dare the government target yet another very vulnerable sector of society. They further state that patients requiring certain treatments will now have to travel to Turkey - not acceptable. Recovery from cancer and the follow on treatments leave patients feeling extremely weak and ill and in no fit state to be dragged through airports in order to receive their treatment, not to mention the considerable extra costs involved. The government states it will refund expenses paid out but when??? Knowing their appalling administration systems not in the near future. Further more there is no Professor of Oncology on the island - he visits when needed and the doctor of oncology in the Near East Hospital covers both the State Hospital and the Near East. She is excellent but terribly overworked. This is patently a money saving exercise by the government to force foreigners to return to their country of origin for treatment. Incidently I am a recovering cancer victim, hence the concerns.

Your thoughts are those of Raziye and her team and she has been (to use the vernacular) busting her guts to get something done so that cancer patients don't have more stress added to their lives. It is said that the government owe a hefty sum in fees to Near East, but there are counter claims that Near East never sent in any invoices. Whatever the truth is, Raziye really is hoping that the government will recant. Building a hospital for the future is not the answer for today. People will day for want of a bit of thought and caring! As you say 'not good enough'. But Raziye has a way of persuading governments - let's hope she succeeds now, but so far, not any chink of light.

Definitley a HUGE step backwards.

Thanks Muffin for expressing your thoughts, which I am sure the thoughts of many. Maybe Raziye can collect them (and I know Tulips reads the forum) and show the government how the hurt is much larger than they thought.

Thank you muffin for both your thoughts and support.

By the government not renewing their contract with Near East University Hospital they had put cancer patients in an unacceptable position. What we mean by this is that any cancer patient requiring radiation treatment that was being funded for by the government would have no choice but to go to Turkey to receive this treatment.

This decision mainly concerned the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot community however it would also concern any foreigner that holds a citizenship card (Kimlik card) which could include English, Russian, German etc who would be entitled to free care from the state.

This decision by the government would not affect most foreigners here because we ordinarily have to pay for our treatment anyway and the Near East University Hospital is open to us for any treatment we choose to go for as normal.

How the government expected cancer patients to pay not only for their own travel, accommodation and food for a minimum of 4 weeks but also that of a carer as the cancer patient would undoubtedly have had to pay for someone to go with them and help care whilst going through this awful intense treatment, was really beyond all of us.


AND NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS!!

After an awful lot of hard work and stress by Raziye Kocaismail, the committee, staff and supporters of Tulips over the last 2 weeks, the government, only TODAY, finally backed down!

It is currently in the Turkish press that the government has announced that cancer patients can continue with their treatment at the Near East University Hospital.

We cannot express the relief we all feel with this new decision.

Well done, and what good news.
I don't know were their thinking comes from sometimes.

Delighted to hear the good news, but being sceptical of TRNC government promises I hope they mean it!