Cancer patients left at the mercy of their fate

THE government has no intention of solving the long-standing problems of cancer patients, a team of DISY deputies concluded yesterday following a visit to the Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre.

The deputies went to see the effects of the nurse shortages at the centre, where almost half the nursing staff has left for the public sector, causing the closure of one ward and reducing available beds from 32 to 20.

Chairman of the House Health Committee Costas Constantinou was accompanied by committee members Eleni Theocharous and Zacharias Zachariou.

After the visit, Theocharous told reporters it seemed that “the government has no intention of solving the problem”.

“(The government) has no intention of getting into the fundamental, essential problems of this centre, which is in effect, the only oncology anticancer hospital we have today in Cyprus, with the consequence of leaving cancer patients at the mercy of their fate,” she said.

“One ward has closed and half the staff cannot cover all the needs. The government is obliged to take into consideration all the proposals that have been made,” she added.
Theocharous said patients had passed on their fears for the future but also their gratitude for the centre, given that the number of patients needing care was huge.
Zachariou highlighted the problem of bad management by the state.

“The bad planning of the state has left the Oncology Centre without nurses today. If a correct and planned policy existed from the state, it would be able to see the health needs not only of state hospitals but everyone.

“It is a shame and unfair that one ward is now closed, with all the means and machinery, but no personnel to run it at a time when we have patients in need of this care,” he added.

Twenty-four nurses have recently left the centre to take up work in the state health services, which offer higher pay and better conditions. Their departure forced the closure of one ward at the centre.

The government has also come under fire for running down the oncology ward at the Nicosia General Hospital, which it does not plan to replace at the new hospital being built outside the capital. It argues the Bank of Cyprus Centre can cover the needs of patients, together with a national oncology centre being set up at Limassol General Hospital.