Helicopter evacuations putting lives at risk, doctors warn

By Phanis Droushiotis

DOCTORS in Paphos are warning that lives are being put at risk by the lack of proper medical facilities on helicopters used to ferry emergency cases to Nicosia.

The president of the Asclepios Medical Association in Paphos, Dr. Stathis Tourvas, told reporters yesterday that police helicopters used to transport patients from Paphos Hospital to Nicosia lacked even the most basic paramedical facilities.

Tourvas said Paphos Hospital, which itself lacks the facilities to treat severe injuries, often needed the services of the Police Helicopter Squad. But he warned that the practice would have to be stopped if on-board paramedic facilities were not improved.

He suggested the hospital should be better equipped, in order to treat serious, urgent and multiple cases, so the need would not arise for transporting patients by helicopter; alternatively, a new air ambulance helicopter should be bought. He said both proposals would be put the Ministry of Health.

Dr. Demetris Poyiatzis, president of the Paphos Hospital Board, echoed Tourvas on the need to upgrade hospital facilities, adding that the Board had repeatedly requested higher budgets from the government, but to no avail.

Dr. Christakis Palas, who is also a member of the Asclepios association, told the Cyprus Mail it was not enough simply to employ more doctors to fill the gaps at the hospital; more equipment should be bought so serious cases could be treated.

He added the hospital’s deficiencies were a matter of serious concern and that the purchase of an air ambulance would certainly help.

Doctors estimate that the required improvements at Paphos general hospital, many of which are urgent, will cost over 1 million pounds, while the cost of purchasing, operating and running a helicopter, fully equipped with medical kit, will be about the same.

The hospital has had to call on the Police Helicopter Squad to transport seriously injured patients from Paphos to Nicosia at least a dozen times in the past six months.

Health Minister Frixos Savvides, currently attending a three-day conference overseas, would be dealing with the problem on his return, Tourvas said, since the matter would be placed before him with top priority.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.