ABUSE OF sick leave and a lack of surgical consumables have forced surgeons to cancel dozens of operations in the last four weeks.
“We have to excuse the inexcusable to patients,” said Dr Stavros Stavrou, head of the government doctors’ union.
Stavrou said he alone had postponed 35 surgeries in the past month.
“It’s not only general surgeries that are being cancelled but also several tests,” he said.
Stavrou said surgeons often had to think on their feet during surgery because “as the patient is lying asleep you’re told some consumables have run out”, he said.
“We try to think what combinations to use and how to put things together to complete the surgery.”
The doctor said this was not without risk for patients but thankfully “we Mediterranean’s and Greeks can multitask”.
The missing items included, among other things, surgical equipment for laparoscopic procedures, he added.
As well as the lack of surgical consumables, nursing staff shortages was another factor that affected scheduled surgeries.
“We ask for an operating theatre and are told the surgery can’t go ahead because there isn’t enough staff for the procedure to go ahead,” he said.
“The operation is then postponed at the patient’s inconvenience. I don’t know if this is because there aren’t enough nurses or because they are on holidays or taking sick leave… If the truth be told there is a trend of exploiting sick leave and we doctors are also to blame for this. We’re the ones that give sick notes easily,” added Stavrou.
The government doctor said the financial crisis had also worsened the situation.
“First of all there are more patients. Due to the financial crisis they aren’t going to the private sector as much… The cost of healthcare services in Cyprus is very high. The highest in Europe if you ask me and people just can cope anymore,” he said.
Stavrou said for the time being patients had shown understanding towards doctors, who had to deal with them face-to-face and break the news of the cancelled surgeries.
“We explain in writing that their procedures have to be put off because of a lack of staff and surgical consumables,” he said.
“What we need is a better re-evaluation of services including staffing numbers and the real work time available,” he added.
No one from Nicosia general hospital was yesterday available for comment.
