New Health Minister promises Nicosia hospital by year’s end

HEALTH Minister Andreas Gavrielides yesterday made the opening of the new Nicosia General Hospital before the end of the year a personal target of his.

Construction of the hospital started back in 1997 and was initially expected to be complete by mid-2003 at a cost of £67 million, but the cost has skyrocketed to £100 million, and in 2005, officials are still making hopeful predictions of when it will be ready.

Gavrielides told the House Health Committee that the new hospital should be up and running by December, noting however, that achieving that target would need “a lot a lot of effort”.

“I have made it a personal goal to make it by the end this year. If it is the first or second month of 2006 I will be very satisfied,” said Gavrielides.

The minister told the committee that 10 experts from British company United Medical Enterprises were in Cyprus to monitor works on the new hospital. He said all 10 were experts in different fields and were here working on a daily basis beyond their schedule to monitor the work being done to prepare the hospital for operation.

The ministry has signed a £2.4m working contract with the company for three years of cooperation.

Regarding the switch from the old Nicosia hospital to the new, Gavrielides said it was a “delicate issue which includes pages of conditions and actions that have to be taken”.
Part of the work necessary includes making a full inventory at the old hospital.

A succession of delays, endless modifications and additions has painted a black picture of gross mismanagement of state funds.

The government launched an inquiry into the scandal with the president making it a personal aim to get swift results.

Meanwhile, the delays have been such that the duration of warrantees and maintenance agreements on equipment is lapsing, which means that by the time the hospital becomes operational, any problems will have to be paid from state coffers.