GUESTS at a high profile dinner in Paphos were stunned when they saw ambulance staff moving an unconscious man on a hotel luggage trolley.
The incident took place at the Coral Beach Hotel in Peyia in Paphos last Saturday. The man collapsed after the event, and a friend called the emergency services and an ambulance was despatched from Paphos general hospital.
Morris Newman who was a guest at the dinner told the Cyprus Mail, “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing; it was unbelievable.”
Newman is an ambulance driver for a local private firm of qualified paramedics, Houston ambulance services.
It’s believed the unconscious man had only consumed one glass of wine during the evening, before he collapsed.
“Because of my job I was interested to see how it’s done in Cyprus,” said Newman. “The driver of the ambulance was an older man and was accompanied by a younger man. They got out of the ambulance empty handed and entered the hotel. They didn’t have a bag or a stretcher. I presumed they would be back for their equipment, so I had a look in the back of the ambulance.”
Newman was shocked by what he saw.
“There wasn’t a carry chair or a wheelchair, and there was barely any equipment inside, which could be used to deal with a casualty and to make someone comfortable before they reach a hospital.”
Newman said it appeared as if the man had been dumped onto the luggage trolley in a haphazard manner as he was ‘all screwed up.’
“The two men tried to stand him up, but he was still unconscious. No one could believe what was going on, and the hotel manager looked on in disbelief.”
It was only at this point they decided to put him on a stretcher.
According to Newman the ambulance men said they were unable to negotiate the stretcher in the lift, which they needed to use as the patient had collapsed on the first floor.
“This may be the case, but they should’ve had a wheel chair or a carry chair. Do you want to be treated like a suitcase or as a human?” he asked.
“I was very annoyed,” he added.” We are supposed to be a member of the European Union, and there are standards of care, which should apply here as well. There should be properly trained paramedics in attendance; here they just haven’t got a clue.”
Newman said the lifting of patients and level of care should be the same across the board. “And I don’t think this problem is concentrated only in Paphos, I think it’s the norm in other areas as well,” he added.
Ambulances in Paphos were being used like a ‘taxi service’ to take casualties to the general hospital.
“When you call an ambulance you’re entitled to medical care before you reach the hospital. The paramedics are then able to give the waiting doctors all the correct relevant medical information on arrival. This saves time and lives,” he said.
Peyia councillor Linda Leblanc said what happened just demonstrated “the dire situation we have here”. “These are third world conditions and we are an EU member state,” she said.
Leblanc has long been lobbying for a higher level of emergency medical care in Paphos and in Cyprus as a whole. “It’s a question of political will. I hope the ministry of health takes note. We’re calling on the minister to examine the situation. I know proposals have gone to the ministry on the subject of paramedics, but these courses take four years to complete and this needs urgent action.”
