New hospital to be ready next June

THE NEW Nicosia hospital will be completed in June next year, four months later than was originally planned, the Health and Communications Ministers announced yesterday.

Speaking after a meeting to discuss why the project had been delayed and to head-off any further setbacks, Health Minister Frixos Savvides said President Glafcos Clerides, who chaired the meeting, had given instructions for a list to be made of all possible obstacles and how these would affect the outcome of the project.

The catalogue will be discussed at another meeting at the beginning of next month, Savvides said: “It is a large project and it is normal for there to be some problems and delays but our goal is, within the framework of the law, to speed up the procedure so that it can be completed by the time it is to be presented to the Cypriot people.”

Communications Minister Averof Neophytou said the project would cost a total of £38 million, with £10 million already spent and 25 per cent of the project completed.

The government’s aim is for the new hospital to serve the whole island, as it will include unique facilities such as a paraplegic ward. The Paraskevaidion Surgical and Transplant Centre, which co-operates with the government, will also be moved to premises next to the hospital.

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