IASIS hospital, Cyprus
They fear for their lives
On a personal contingency planning level, EU consumer writer, Mary Tomlinson, writes about how the British are increasingly going to Cyprus as medical tourists
Figures recently released show that around 200,000 people have left the UK. It was not divulged how many of those are in the retired pensioner brackets or where they have gone. Threatened closure of hospitals and lack of out of hours care has sent pensioners looking for health safety and a better life, and others are going abroad for quicker and cheaper treatment, the new Medical Tourists!
The UK appears to be the poor cousin in Europe where pensions and medical treatment are concerned, bottom of the table and pitied by all where once we were leaders of the field and envied.
In October 2007 the first Cyprus Medical Tourism Conference was held in London with the aim of promoting Cyprus as a destination where people can obtain high-quality treatment such a open heart surgery at much lower costs than in Britain, and with a holiday thrown in, see the newly launched website www.treatmentincyprus.com .
On a recent fact finding trip I found there are over 60,000 expatriates in Cyprus, all enjoying a very much lower cost of living, English is spoken and they drive on the same side of the road as we do, plus of course the sun and the sea, and well organised public health care.
Retirement to Cyprus could be an excellent option if you want no worries and to be able to go to bed at night, knowing if you get ill medical health is readily available. Pafilia is a family firm set up in 1974 by Elias Eliades and who understand how those considering retiring to the Cyprus sun need all medical information possible, see their website www.pafilia.com/healthcare.aspx
Leptos Estates go even further, their developments are planning linked up medical services and some are in already in place. Pantelis Leptos the son of Michael who founded the firm way back in 1961 spoke of how those retiring to their properties were so anxious about medical care and found it difficult to believe it could be so easy, and plenty of dentists available.
"Buying a property or land in another country is never easy", he said but Leptos offer a free consultancy service to provide help and answers to all questions, a complete service in fact,and from what I saw this is certainly the case. Most doctors are British or German trained and some are Consultants who left the NHS service to set up clinics in Cyprus for both local and tourists.
In Cyprus the future sees the building of more hospitals and health care centres, while in England we close them down and lose out on after hours health care.
One of the Lepto developments is Kamares Village where they have a Medical Emergency Response Centre and the IASIS Hospital has been contracted to operate the centre 24/7. Residents in this area tell me how marvellous not to have to worry about where the next doctor is coming from or that the hospital is not closing down!
These expats seem themselves as refugees from the system in England. In Cyprus they have it all: low living costs that make a pension stretch so very far; sun, sea, and sand and a swimming pool in the grounds. The point is that lack of worry and stress stops illness and so they enjoy good health, they even receive the winter fuel allowance!
Leptos are leaders in the field of retirement properties, though there is no age restraint as such and the disabled are catered for, and a number of more purpose built retirement developments are planned in the Paphos area, see www.leptosestates.com
As the British continue to flee the country as medical tourists for treatment they cannot wait for on the NHS, and others sell up and go to live where they can be sure of a doctor, dentist and A&E, are we in fact facing a whole new way of life? A two tier or means-tested system, those who can afford this and those who cannot? A gap found in our failing system by other EU countries is providing what we no longer have, secure NHS Healthcare and dentists and even a place in the sun by a pool!
Mary Tomlinson FCIJ, EU Consumer Writer
