Top court orders state to reopen cancer ward

THE SUPREME Court has ruled against the state in an appeal by cancer patients against the decision to downsize the Cancer Ward at the Nicosia General Hospital and remove four nurses from the state oncology ward.

The top court overturned the Cabinet decision, ordering the return of the four nurses and of the ward to its original capacity holding 18 beds. The state was also left to pick up the legal bill.

On November 1, 2004, the Health Minister ordered beds at the oncology ward to be reduced from 18 to 12. The thinking behind the move was gradually to reduce services at the ward, leading to the eventual closure of the general hospital. The new hospital in Latsia does not have a new cancer ward but the state will provide cancer services by employing the services of the Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre and beefing up the Oncology Ward at Limassol hospital.

The Committee of Cancer Patients and Relatives of the Oncology Ward at Nicosia General Hospital, along with 16 cancer patients, objected to the decision to close part of the ward and appealed to the Supreme Court.

The court overturned the Cabinet decision to reduce the ward’s capacity and nursing staff on Tuesday. Head of the cancer patients committee, Christos Andreou, said the committee was prepared to take the battle further, by challenging the state through the courts to re-open the radiotherapy unit at the hospital so it could provide comprehensive services to patients instead of having to taxi them across the Bank of Cyprus Centre for treatment every day.

He said the group would also fight to have a state oncology centre included in the new Nicosia General Hospital.

Opposition party DISY yesterday hailed the decision of the Supreme Court to return the number of beds at the ward to its original level.

A party announcement said the lengthy legal battle provided an answer to the serious shortages and weaknesses of the state in the area of public health.

“The re-opening of the ward does not solve the accumulated problems faced by cancer patients and their relatives,” it said.

DISY called for a comprehensive plan and political will to implement measures that would improve the services available at the oncology wards in Nicosia and Limassol hospitals and the BoC Centre.

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