Disagreements between health providers have rendered an advisory committee for drug-addicted offenders inactive, the House legal affairs committee heard on Wednesday.
The committee, made up of a psychiatrist, a nurse with experience in drug rehab and a state attorney, is tasked with advising courts on whether an offender should be sent to rehab instead of jail.
But a tug-of-war between doctors and nurses, over their professional qualifications, has created problems — psychiatrists consider the nurse as being inferior to them.
There was also the provision that offences classified as felonies could not be considered.
Health Minister Giorgos Pamborides suggested changing the composition of the committee, bringing in people who know how courts work, and extend its terms of reference.
Pamborides said the state attorney, who presides, should have the authority to seek the opinions of medics or any other services they judge necessary on a case-by-case basis, and then submit a recommendation to the court.
Akel MP Aristos Damianou, whose party tabled the issue for discussion, said the problem was simple, and it concerned the advisory committee.
Because of the way the committee was made up, there have been problems of hierarchy, and other functionality issues.
Damianou said parliament respected the professionals on the committee, but its main concern was the implementation of the law and to see drug addicts going to rehab instead of jail.
The first and foremost objective was to ensure the rights of those people, Damianou said. Professional disputes came second.
The head of the committee, state attorney Polina Efthivoulou, also highlighted the fact that the law excluded people who had committed felonies.
Most of the offences involving drug addicts were felonies, she said, resulting in them being led to jail instead of rehab.
Only one case has so far been accepted by court, due to this provision, she said.
Efthivoulou said parliament must amend the article to exempt offences carrying a jail term of over 10 years.
She added that MPs must also correct the matter of composition, which makes the committee dysfunctional.
The head of nursing services at the health ministry said the nurse sitting on the committee was the problem.
Andreas Xenophontos said he had bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as a “cart-full” of training sessions in treating drug addiction, but “psychiatrists consider him inferior” to them or other doctors.
Pamborides said the law provided for the creation of a body to advise the judge on whether to provide an offender with treatment or send them to jail.
“In the health sector nothing is so simple, even easy things become difficult,” he said.
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