ON THE walls of the outpatient ward of the Nicosia General Hospital, signs read “The enclaved are our priority: Ministry of Health”.
It’s just one surreal touch as hundreds of outpatients squash together on benches and queue for hours to have their eyes checked or their medicine prescribed.
This week, state doctors’ union head Stavros Stavrou described the old hospital as a “dump”. Indeed, echoes of hospital scenes from classic Vietnam movies like Born on the Fourth July and The Deer Hunter stir as you undertake the thankless task of venturing into the outpatient ward to pick up some pills, receive a certificate or have a check-up.
Pensioner Yiota Avraam said she had had to queue up for hours just to receive pills for her heart problem.
“I have a problem with my heart and every two weeks I have to come here to pick up my pills. It is a very big problem for me because my daughter has to drop me off and then I call when I’m finished. The problem is that my daughter cannot drop me off before 10am, which means I have wait here for my turn. You have to get here early otherwise you will have to wait for hours and hours.”
She was just one of haul of people jammed into the small room, all waiting in mammoth queues to receive their medication.
Other hapless outpatients, all clutching medical cards, complained about the poor service and mind-boggling bureaucracy served up by the hospital.
“You can see for yourself what is going on here,” said 44-year-old Charalambos Kouris, waiting in the queue for his elderly father.
“I have been here for almost two hours waiting in the heat just so I can pick up a handful of pills. There are eight booths and only five are open. It is not enough that they are slow workers but I had close my shop and come down here and wait for something that could take 10 minutes if they were organised.
“But that’s government employees for you, as long as they get their salaries every month and they finish at 12.30pm, they’re happy.”
There were also queues in the ophthalmic ward as patients piled onto benches with numbers, waiting for the single doctor to come out and call out their turn.
Giorgos Andreou, waiting to see the doctor for an eye infection, said it was the second time in a week that he was back at the hospital and that every visit there was daunting.
“First of all, the parking situation here is dreadful and the last time I was here I got a parking ticket because I was forced to park on the other side of the park.
“Then there is the waiting that we are all subjected to. I don’t blame the doctor for what’s going on because he is actually good and it is not his fault that he is the only one who has to deal with all of us waiting here.
“The people that are to blame for all this are the hospital directors because in my opinion they are not thinking of the discomfort other less fortunate patients have to go through.
“They just think ‘well you are getting the care almost for free so take it or leave it’.”
