Hospital visitors take disabled parking spaces
HOSPITAL examination tables are not adjustable for the physically disabled, parliament heard yesterday.
“It makes no sense in a hospital, where visitors are people with health problems, not to have adjustable beds so that a person with mobility problems, or the elderly, or small children or pregnant mothers, can easily lie down,” said Demetris Lambrianides, representative of the Paraplegic Organisation.
On top of that, people with disabilities experienced problems at hospital parking lots since other people took the spaces allocated for them.
Lambrianides told the House Human Rights Committee there were cases of people with physical disabilities who travelled to Nicosia to be examined and had to return – without being examined – because there was no one to help them lie down.
He added that the older hospitals lacked rooms with the proper facilities to accommodate wheelchairs.
“With all the problems faced by people with disabilities in hospitals – private and public – we should not be talking about paraplegic patients but paraplegic hospitals,” Lambrianides said.
Lambrianides said even the hydrotherapy pools at the Nicosia hospital were not working because they lacked the necessary personnel to help people inside.
Abandoned UN post burned
A FIRE broke out at an abandoned UNFICYP guard post in the area of Dherynia a little after 4am yesterday. The guard post was located in the UN-administrated zone on the outskirts of Famagusta, behind the general hospital. The blaze was spotted by nurses in the hospital who notified the fire brigade.
Thanks to a rapid response by the fire brigade, facilitated by the relative proximity of their department to the outpost in question, the damage caused by the fire was not extensive. The majority of the damage was limited to the roof, extending also to internal damage to three of the rooms. The guard post is, however, still standing and has not burnt down.
Preliminary investigations suggest the fire was most likely started accidentally and not a result of arson. It was noted that the particular guard post is occasionally used for shelter by homeless people in the region.
“Humiliated teen’ case being investigated
THE POLICE Complaints Commission has decided to go ahead with an investigation into the arrest of a 15-year-old pupil who had failed to testify in his father’s trial.
The Commission sent a letter expressing their intention to investigate to Attorney-general Petros Clerides, who confirmed its receipt yesterday.
The Commission has already appointed two criminal investigators, Lefteris Solomou and Michalakis Michaelides. Clerides said he would not be investigating the matter himself.
“From the moment that the Ombudswoman, Child Commissioner, police and Complaints Commission are investigating the case, there is not need for the Attorney-general to do so also,” he pointed out.
Work-related accidents down but still high
LABOUR accidents in Cyprus average 1,800 every year, though this year that number has been reduced by 200 Labour Minister Sotiroulla Charalambous said yesterday.
Speaking in Limassol in the context of a conference on Health and Safety, Charalambous said that it was the aim of the government to reduce accidents at work by 25 percent by 2012. “We are not looking simply to attain some good statistics but are seeking to consolidate and strengthen responsibility for worker health and safety,” said Charalambous.
The Minister also observed that an improvement in working conditions and an increase in work safety meant an increase in productivity, less absences from work, less sick pay which must be made and so lower costs for businesses.
