By Jean Christou
THE SOLE doctor at the Lefkara outpatients clinic yesterday began a hunger strike over what he claims are appalling conditions there.
General surgeon Polydoros Polydorou said he was beginning an indefinite hunger strike in protest at the lack of facilities at the rural Larnaca clinic.
Polydorou cited lack of staff and equipment, including ambulances, and long working hours with the doctor forced to work 32 hours at a stretch with no nurses were available outside clinic hours.
Lefkara Mayor Sophoclis Sophocleous, who is backing Polydorou’s action, stressed the need for the proper equipment to be provided at the clinic and the appointment of extra staff.
He said it was the duty of the Health Ministry to equip the clinic properly and provide 24-hour medical care to Lefkara residents.
But the Health Ministry yesterday denied Polydorou was overworked. An announcement said he has been employed on a contract basis since September 1994 and was afforded all the free time allotted under the contract.
As regards the other problems raised by Polydorou in a letter to the ministry on November 5, the announcement said discussing them had now become impossible because of his hunger strike, and if the situation continued they would be obliged to “take measures”.
In a separate incident a Greek Orthodox priest staged a hunger strike outside a Nicosia convent at the weekend, claiming his daughter had been brainwashed into becoming a nun.
Papakyriacos Tryfonos, a priest from the Paphos village of Letymbou, began his hunger strike in the hope it would force the Abbess of the Ayios Iraklidios convent to allow him to see his 23-year-old daughter, Nectaria.
The priest claimed she had brainwashed into becoming a nun and denounced the Church authorities for allowing it to happen.
The Abbess of the convent has declined comment.
Nectaria, a philosophy graduate from the University of Cyprus who recently taught at a Nicosia kindergarten “had never shown any leanings toward a monastic life”, her father told reporters at the weekend.
He said she had received several proposals of marriage and the family had already built her a house as dowry for her future wedding.
After Nectaria spent early August with friends at an Archbishopric campsite in Kakopetria, she telephoned her father telling him she was investigating job opportunities in Nicosia – but entered the convent instead.
Subsequent legal efforts by the family to secure her release failed.
An emotional 10-minute visit between Nectaria and her family took place on Sunday in the convent courtyard in the presence of the policeman, ending Papakyriacos’ hunger strike. Nectaria asked for more time to reconsider her decision, reports said.
