A 50-YEAR-old man suffering from throat cancer was rushed to hospital on Saturday night after he stopped breathing and had to be treated in the hospital’s corridors, as there were no beds available.
The case is the latest in a string of incidents involving cancer patients, and highlights the shortcomings in cancer care in the capital, campaigners say.
Andreas Charalambous, who suffers from throat cancer, was admitted to Nicosia General Hospital late on Saturday night after suffering from a blockage that stopped his breathing.
A source told the Cyprus Mail there were no beds available in the emergency room and that Charalambous had to be treated in the hospital’s corridors.
He added that, who is receiving regular treatment at the Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre, had not medical files with him, making the duty specialist’s task a much harder one.
“The anaesthetist who was on duty took the initiative of administering a throat incision, but without the patient’s medical files this was extremely risky. But what was she to do? The poor man would have died if she hadn’t gone ahead, he wasn’t breathing and was turning black.”
Eventually, Charalambous was put on a respiratory machine and was kept in Nicosia General until the early hours of the following morning, when a bed was found for him in the private Apollonion Hospital.
But in spite of their ordeal, Charalambous’ wife and daughter, Varvara and Natasa, yesterday had nothing but praise for the way things had been handled at Nicosia General.
“There will always be a state of chaos and panic in the emergency room. But we are very pleased with the way my father was treated,” said Natasa yesterday.
Following public outrage last year, plans to close down the General Hospital’s Oncology department were scrapped and bed capacity, which was originally reduced by six beds, was increased.
Dr Antonis Rossides, Head of the Oncology department in Nicosia General, said yesterday they were re capable of dealing with any cancer-related problem excluding radiotherapy.
He admitted there were times when the Oncology Centre sent patients to the General Hospital without medical files and any knowledge on their medical history.
“This doesn’t mean that they do not administer us with information. If we need to know something we call them up and they give us the information,” he added.
“The problem is general,” he said, “the Health Sector is a mess at the moment what with the shortages in trained staff and equipment, and the Oncology department is no exception.”
Alecos Stamatis, head of the BoC Centre, blamed the state sector’s shortcomings on the limited amount of specialists.
“We have the equipment and the means to deal with the problem, we just don’t have the staff. Graduates in the medical field are quickly absorbed by government institutions,” he said.
Special programmes have been drawn up, says Stamatis, in order to address the problem.
“We are currently handing out scholarships for students to acquire a Bachelor Degree in Radiotherapy. At the moment we have seven students studying and three have already graduated. We are doing something about it.”
Stamatis was also keen to stress that medical files were given to the General Hospital whenever they were requested.
Reports saying it was impossible to get information on the patient’s medical history due to the time of the incident (around 2am) were denied by Stamatis.
“We operate on a 24-hour basis. If someone had contacted us there would have been someone here to administer the relevant information.”
Last week, DISY deputy Christos Pourgourides described the public health situation as “tragic” and accused the Ministry of Health of not doing anything about it.
Returning from a visit to Limassol Hospital, the deputy said the public health sector was “on the verge of collapse” and suggested that “anyone sitting behind a desk at the Ministry of Health should visit the Hospital and see things for themselves.”
Minister of Health Andreas Gavrielides suggested the criticism was purely political.
“People are saying whatever they want. This is not a recent problem, it has existed for years.”
