Oracle:
Keep it simple you are losing me. Your thought processes are a bit convoluted, I don’t really understand what you are getting at.
I merely suggested you were splitting hairs over the meaning of specific words, not the application of them. And really using ‘Old Boy’ in your analogy is a bit ‘White Hall Farce’ type material, like ‘jolly hockey sticks’ and I have never actually met any body who actually used these expressions so, you are stereotyping.
I agree with you about the concern of loving and supportive Cypriot families for relatives in hospital. This sort of care is often very limited in many European countries as the rules limit both the times and length of visiting hours. (
in the UK I believe it is also very expensive to park in hospital car parks...no problem here, you just park where it is convenient) These limitations do not apply in Cyprus. You would also not find patients with a full time career in most European hospitals as Sri Lankan/Vietnamese maids are something that is, as far as I have seen, peculiar to Cyprus, particularly in the number of them per head of population. Maybe something we should adopt from your culture?
Just for your information, I have nothing but admiration for the doctors, surgeons and surgical practices in Cyprus. I have never even heard of having to bribe a surgeon and we have had our fair share of visits to the General Hospitals over the last couple of years. The one thing a surgeon/doctor would ask a patient to ascertain whether they were enjoying some '....quality of life' would be the very simple question ‘Are you comfortable.’ So, I would argue that ‘quality’ and ‘comfort’ are, if not actually synonymous, of a similar concerned vein of enquiry.
Back to the subject of Brits moaning about ‘things’ in Cyprus: Whilst I have every respect and admiration for the quality of medical care, I think even you would agree that the administration side leaves a lot to be desired? One day, after spending over two hours in ‘Registration’ with my wife I decided to write to the Director of Limassol General and rather than just moan, I made some suggestions as to how I thought he could improve the quality of service at zero cost, just by revising some of the administrative procedures.
I was astounded when about two weeks later I received a letter thanking me for my suggestions which he said he would implement as soon as they could and that he would be interested in hearing any other suggestions that I thought could improve the quality of service. The fact that a senior health official actually replied shows that there are some civil servants with a professional attitude to the job, they are not all useless. Whether the suggestions will ever be implemented is another thing. But, at least I tried to make a difference.
Another misapprehension, that the Cyprus Health Service pay for the treatment of all these old codgers from the UK, is a myth that even some doctors are not aware of. All our treatment is actually paid for by the British NHS and all operations, in/out patient treatment, drugs, x-rays, MRI’s etc. are all back charged to the UK. I was discussing this with the head of the MRI dept. in Nicosia and she said that she was never made aware of this and that her anger at Brits getting treatment, as she thought, for free was misplaced. Another ‘anti-brit’ Cypriot won over by honesty, charm, wit and an endearing personality!
We now go through the ‘koumbarie’ routine to get appointments for the MRI’s which my wife has to have on a regular basis. So, you see, we aren’t stupid, we have things to learn from you also.
