Famagusta district local government leaders said on Monday they were satisfied after receiving reassurances that works on the second and third floors of the Famagusta general hospital’s will be speeded up and completed within three to four months.
After a meeting with Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou, the district’s local authority heads said the third floor will be used for the treatment of coronavirus patients but until works are completed, other patients from that area that cannot be accommodated and will be referred either to the Larnaca general hospital or to a private one nearby that has joined Gesy.
“When these two floors are completed, each department will have its own space,” said Dherynia mayor Andros Karayiannis, expressing hope that they would be up and running within three months.
He said the Covid-19 patients are being treated at the hospital’s basement floor and that other departments are not affected.
The area’s communities had expressed concerns after the government decision to use the Famagusta general hospital as the referral hospital for coronavirus patients.
Locals and hospital staff protested that there was not enough staff and that taking in coronavirus patients would be to the detriment of residents who would not be able to receive the proper healthcare services they need.
“We understand the concerns of the hospital staff and of the area’s residents and acknowledge the fatigue and the difficult task that they are once again called upon to manage as the reference hospital,” Ioannou said after the meeting.
He added that additional medical and nursing staff have been sent to the hospital while works for the completion of the two additional floors are being expedited.
Ioannou praised the work carried out by the staff and management of the hospital “for which the whole of Cyprus is proud of.”
