THE PARAPLEGICS Association said yesterday it was frustrated with how the government had turned its back on a 33-year-old wheelchair bound Pakistani man, ultimately dumping him on the state health services at the expense of other paraplegic patients.
“We have to find a way to have this person discharged from hospital,” the association’s president Demetris Lambrianides said.
“He cannot stay in hospital until his trial date – if it even goes to trial. Not only is he taking up a bed but it is also soul destroying for him. How will he be able to reintegrate into society when he’s spent one, two, three years in hospital being inactive and waiting for something, if that something happens.”
Lambrianides was referring to Wasim Iqbal who was injured in a collision with a National Guard vehicle in June last year and has been at Nicosia general hospital’s paraplegic ward ever since.
Iqabal has refused to leave hospital because as he has repeatedly pointed out he has nowhere to go and no way of supporting himself until his compensation suit goes to trial.
Lambrianides said: “It’s not right. One of the state services has to undertake to grant him permission to reside outside the hospital and to help him financially so that he can live somewhere until his court case.”
The Paraplegics’ Association president said the state had ultimately abandoned Iqbal in hospital without giving his reintegration into society a second thought, where he could live like a human being.
“He’s also in hospital taking up a bed that would be useful for people [paraplegics] who have health problems,” he said.
Lambrianides said the situation frustrated the association as it was a blatant display of the state services’ complete disregard for the situation.
“No one has come and tried to help this person move on with his life and they are totally disinterested that he is taking up a bed. Not only do they not care about his well being and quality of life, but they are not even bothered that he is keeping one of 20 beds occupied – which is five per cent of the paraplegic ward’s capacity – just because he has no other option but to stay there until his trial,” he said.
Commenting on the case, Civil Registry and Migration department director Anny Shakalli told the Cyprus Mail that Iqbal’s visa had already been extended last year so as to allow him to undergo treatment for his injuries. Nevertheless, in light of the status quo, she said that she would re-examine his case.
“If his lawyer sends me all the information pertaining to his case, including all the facts, where things stand with the legal suit and his needs then I will re-examine [his file],” Shakalli said.
Following the expiration of the man’s student visa last year, the migration department said it would only grant him a visitor’s visa. Such a status would however deny him access to state housing or welfare benefits.
This Catch 22 has ultimately left Iqbal stranded at the hospital’s state-of-the-art paraplegic treatment and rehabilitation centre. Worse yet, if and when he is compensated for the accident, he will have to repay the government for his hospital stay.
Health Minister Costas Kadis was yesterday unavailable for comment.
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