CANCER patients and relatives yesterday demonstrated outside the Presidential Palace demanding an answer as to what would happen to cancer patients when the old Nicosia general hospital transfers to the new hospital next year.
The Bank of Cyprus (BoC) Oncology Centre has already said it does not currently have the capacity to take on more patients.
In a written announcement, the Committee of Cancer Patients and Relatives of the Oncology centre at Nicosia general hospital said they would continue their demonstration “for as many hours or days necessary”, until President Tassos Papadopoulos was able to explain what he meant when he told the committee “the new Nicosia General Hospital, as well as hospitals in other districts, will offer unfailing oncological services” in a letter dated February 16 this year.
The same announcement said Health Minister Dina Akkelidou “continuously gives different and misleading explanations” on this matter.
The hospital’s emergency department and nurses had been notified about yesterday’s peaceful protest so that they could offer first aid to cancer patients and other demonstrators who might suffer from soaring temperatures under the hot sun.
The committee said it had recently held a two-hour meeting with representatives of the BoC Oncology Centre and come to a number of important conclusions and realisations.
One, the BoC Oncology Centre had long withdrawn the special term about avoiding giving double services to cancer patients as part of an agreement between the centre and the state and said it did not object to the Health Ministry offering oncological services to patients in Nicosia and other districts, said the committee.
Two, both the committee and the Oncology Centre agreed, “there must be closer co-operation between doctors and other services provided by the Oncology Centre, government and private sector, which will be mutually supportive for the benefit of cancer patients”.
And finally, third, the committee said it demanded the creation of a Cancer Centre, which would co-ordinate all cancer related services, so as to avoid wasting manpower, technology and resources.
“It might be useful that once the majority of Makarios Hospital in-patient wards move to the new Nicosia general hospital, and seeing as the Haematology and Paediatric Oncology wards will remain there, that the Cancer Centre is set up there,” said the announcement.
The committee also suggested that the old general hospital’s Oncology Department be temporarily transferred to the Makarios Hospital until the Cancer Centre is up and running.
“We also suggest taking advantage of the empty space at Makarios Hospital, including the abandoned operating theatres, and creating a surgical oncology unit, as well as an emergency, hystopathology department, a physiotherapy department and others. That way, everyone will combine efforts and offer, without wasting manpower, technology and resources, the maximum force in the war against cancer,” it said.
The announcement added: “With these suggestions we believe we will note a real improvement in services and Cyprus will become an example of upgraded services for cancer patients.”
