Cyprus health system gave us the best of care

Several articles lately have been critical of the Cyprus NHS. I would like to share my experience with them.

My wife recently had a serious operation at the Cardiovascular Unit of the Nicosia General Hospital.

The care and attention she received from all the staff in the unit were excellent. The surgeons went out of their way to explain the medical procedures, and the nurses were reassuring, capable and
considerate.

Obviously, the language barrier poses problems. But we have no knowledge of Greek. All the effort to bridge the language gap came from the medical staff. All of them spoke some English, and most spoke English very well. As a result, with very few exceptions, we managed to communicate fairly effectively – all due to their efforts.

The prospect of a major operation in a foreign country was very daunting for my wife. But the skill of the staff took away as  much of the pressure as possible. She is now home, and, I am pleased to say, getting a little better each day.

I would add that the problem she had was only discovered by the hospital staff after they went to a great deal of trouble to identify it. She went to see them over a different matter, but they became concerned about certain things they felt were wrong. After various tests, that we felt were unnecessary, they proved why they are the experts in these matters.

There are some problems at the hospitals. Bureaucracy appears to need trimming.

But the medical staff we encountered were first class. Our sincere thanks to them.

B. Hall,
Tala, Paphos