Filenews 21 November 2022 - by Dora Christodoulou
The situation prevailing at Paphos Hospital is marginal in terms of carrying out its role and safeguarding public health. The Mayor of Paphos flashed and thundered on the occasion of incidents that occurred in his presence on Sunday afternoon. Phaedonas Phaedonos complained that the State Hospital of Paphos is in fact a step away from collapse and accused the HIO and SHSO of complete indifference to what he has been seriously denouncing for a long time about what is happening in the unit.
Paphos Hospital is in a very tragic situation, he said characteristically. He spoke of unprecedented impurity and unsuitability of spaces, of shortages of important infrastructure, of poor workmanship that now create risks for those who are in it, especially in times of severe weather phenomena.
"But now, there is also a major issue for the medicine offered there," he stressed. "They closed the Paediatric Department, leaving it with only four beds out of the 18 it had, and sending children to the Hospitals of Limassol, Larnaca and Nicosia. It is inconceivable that parents go with their children who are judged as incidents of admission and hear that because we do not have space, wait until we find a bed in another city. And to be told that they are lucky to have found a bed in another city.
There are parents who do not have the ability to go to another city, so they are forced to take responsibility for taking their child back home. And when the time comes when any of these cases prove fatal, the principals in charge will run to cover their backs with meetings and send condolences."
The Mayor of Paphos also stressed that he was an eyewitness at Paphos Hospital on Sunday, in an incident where medical and paramedical staff were discussing what to do with an intubated patient whom they did not have the opportunity to treat in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital, in the absence of space.
"Doctors and nurses made superhuman efforts to serve the many patients they expected," Mr. Phaedonos said. "It is not their responsibility what was tragically happening there. They expected a two-hour response from Limassol Hospital as to whether the intubated person would be transferred there and when. Conclusion: Paphos Hospital is literally in a tragic situation in terms of logistical means. For the 32 years that it has been in operation, it has not received from those in charge even half a renovation, everything is dissolved and crumbling."
He also denounced the complete administrative inadequacy of those in charge at Paphos Hospital, saying characteristically that while it employs many more workers than the Municipality of Paphos, the work done there is completely incomplete. He spoke of workers hitting their attendance card and "getting lost" in his expression, returning to their villages to perform other jobs and returning when they hit the card again to 'leave'.
"Those in charge either do not even understand the problems that exist or if they do perceive them they are not able to solve them," he said. "In any case, they are completely unsuitable for carrying out their role."
Mr. Phaedonos announced the holding of a press conference in the next few days in which he will invite staff members and others to start circulating videotaped snapshots of what is happening inside the hospital premises. Publicity is now the only solution, he said characteristically, to sensitize some. He also did not rule out holding a peaceful protest rally outside the Hospital by civil society for what is happening there
