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Police officers accompanying detainees to public hospitals could spend hours waiting for medical examinations, prompting plans for dedicated spaces and faster processing as part of a new package of measures agreed by the Justice and Health ministries.
The measures were discussed at an interministerial meeting on Thursday involving Justice and Public Order Minister Kostas Fytiris, Health Minister Neofytos Charalambides and Law Commissioner Sofia Kleopa Hadjikyriacou.
One of the most practical changes concerns detainees taken to hospital emergency departments. Dedicated parking spaces are to be reserved for police vehicles transporting detainees, while detainees will receive priority during medical examinations.
The government also plans to create specially designed detention areas inside public hospitals. The aim is to reduce waiting times and prevent police officers from being tied up at hospitals for extended periods while detainees receive medical care.
Mortuaries to reopen outside Nicosia
Another significant part of the plan concerns the country's mortuary facilities.
The authorities have ordered the gradual reopening of mortuaries in other cities so that fewer cases have to be transported to Nicosia. Limassol will be the first, with its mortuary due to resume operations before other facilities follow.
The reopened facilities will initially handle non-forensic cases, while forensic cases will continue to be dealt with in Nicosia.
The change is intended to reduce unnecessary transfers of bodies to the capital and allow cases that do not require forensic examination to be handled closer to where they occur.
More support for forensic services
The Forensic Medicine Service is also set for additional staffing, alongside the purchase of services from external specialists to help meet existing demand.
Its operating procedures will be updated and sent to the Police, setting out more clearly when a forensic doctor must attend a case or provide assistance.
Medical negligence investigations were another issue discussed at the meeting. Authorities identified difficulties in finding doctors able to provide specialist expertise for individual cases as one reason investigations can take longer.
The Health Ministry will therefore prepare a list of medical professionals that the Police can consult when specialist assistance is required, selecting doctors according to the medical field involved in each investigation.
Psychiatric procedures also set for changes
The meeting also agreed to amend the legal framework governing psychiatric hospitalisation.
The changes are intended to simplify the procedures used when people require psychiatric assessment or treatment, including their transfer to hospital and the formal handover between the authorities and health services.
Officials from the two ministries, the State Health Services Organisation (OKYPY) and the Police leadership took part in the meeting.
A second interministerial meeting is expected to take place in the coming period to review progress on the measures and settle any issues that remain unresolved.
