Filenews 4 June 2025 - by Marilena Panagi
35.4% of the citizens who come for service to the Accident and Emergency Department of the Paphos Hospital and about 20% of the citizens who come to the A&E Department of the Nicosia General Hospital, are not real emergencies and are referred for service to the Rapid Patient Management Clinics in order to receive the necessary care.
This means that a large number of citizens who turn to the A&E could be served by their personal doctor, on weekdays or by the on-call clinics of the General Health System on weekends and holidays, while also a group of patients, whose lives are also not in danger but need a service (e.g. X-ray or a suture), now in the two Provinces they are served without causing congestion to the A&E that operates for real emergencies.
In statements to "F", the Minister of Health, Michalis Damianos, said that from the first Rapid Patient Handling Clinic that operated on April 1 at the Nicosia General Hospital, more than 1120 citizens have been served to date. "On average, 21 people are served by the clinic every twenty-four hours who, if this service did not exist, would have been waiting for several hours until it was their turn to be served by the A&E Department."
As of Monday, the Clinic at the Paphos General Hospital also operated. "On the first day of the operation of the Clinic, from 2:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., 35.4% of all patients who came to the hospital's A&E for treatment were served."
The results from the operation of the two Clinics, said Michalis Damianos, "are encouraging and people are happy with the service".
This is "a measure that aimed precisely at decongesting the A&E so that they can serve real emergencies more quickly".
"Regarding the discharge of A&E, the HIO has long since proceeded to the creation of a service of on-call personal doctors in all provinces and these doctors are available for cases that do not require a visit to the A&E Department," said Mr. Damianos, adding that the Rapid Patient Handling Clinics will be extended to the rest of the provinces.
