The mayor of Paphos, Fedonas Fedonos, complained that the city hospital is in a “tragic, horrible and disgraceful condition. The mayor is sure that private business has a vested interest in all this.
Not a single repair in 32 years
“The quality of building management is simply outrageous! When it rains, the janitors take out 10-15 buckets of water, which drips from the ceiling. Everything is littered with garbage,” the mayor noted in a recent radio appearance.
The mayor also added that the hospital building had never been renovated in 32 years. It is noteworthy that this statement was made almost simultaneously with the speech of Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, who spoke about the planned investments in health care in the near future.
The biggest shortage of beds – in pediatrics
The insufficient capacity of Paphos hospital is a serious problem, which has recently acquired frightening proportions. The worst situation is in the pediatric department. Only four beds are available here – the rest had to be transferred to the maternity ward. “Parents who bring their children to the hospital are told that if they can find a bed for their child in a hospital in Limassol or Larnaca, it can be considered great luck. This situation is unacceptable,” said the mayor. Fedonos described an incident he witnessed when a doctor was desperately trying to find a bed for an intubated patient. The patient was eventually taken by ambulance to the hospital in Limassol.
Fedonas Fedonos: the deplorable state of state hospitals benefits the “private sector
Admitting that this issue is not directly within his competence, Fedonas Fedonos stresses that he feels obliged to speak out about the problem, since he receives daily complaints from residents on the subject.
At the same time, the mayor draws attention to another relevant aspect: “Some doctors benefit from the current situation, because the poor conditions in the Paphos hospital is the best advertisement for commercial medicine. He believes that private clinics are subjugating the health sector in the city. And the deplorable state of public medical institutions contributes to this to a large extent.
