Girne American University’s economist and Head of Accounting Department Dr. Özgür Özmen attended a general health and health management conference titled ''We are taking our Quality to Europe’’.

The Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) Minister of Tourism and Culture, Ünal Üstel, also attended the conference at the Hilton Hotel in Edgware Road, London. Speaker Dr. Özmen gave four presentations titled, ‘Quality in health management’, ‘Health in private and government sectors: yesterday and today’, ‘Increasing the number of patients coming from abroad’ and ‘Technology in the health sector’. For his contribution to the conference Dr. Özmen received a plaque.

Dr. Özmen discussed in his presentations how important it was for all aspects of the health system to become standardized and to reach and maintain the highest possible standards at all times. He also discussed the need for patients and health personal to come together for decision making processes, the importance of patient safety, and how improvements to the international and national health quality accreditations systems should be considered.

Dr Özmen’s concept of the quality and security in health system first came into practice in the private sector, and through the ‘Conversion in Health Quality Program’ which provided improvements to lcoal government and university hospitals.

Dr. Özmen reminded approximately 3,500 health sector officials that the health service they supply is based on an international and national quality system. Private hospitals can be used as an example of patient and employee satisfaction, in that the average level of satisfaction over 3 years is 89.18 % for patients and 86% for employees. This evidence provides an emphasis on how quality improvement can make a difference in a hospital environment.

In the public sector the Health Ministry also made a survey in public hospitals. Past results showed satisfaction was just 30-40%, but last years results showed satisfaction ahs increased to 60-70%. Dr Özmen also mentioned that the TRNC has qualified and professional staff and in recent years has introduced the latest technology in science and medicine to the health sector. As a result of these changes, lots of patients have come from abroad for treatment in the TRNC. The quality and quantity of health services in the TRNC have now reached world standards.