Coronavirus: Anger after Polis doctors moved to service Paphos virus wards

Polis Chrysochous municipality and surrounding communities warned on Saturday they would take measures over what they said was the government’s failure to provide proper public healthcare.

The communities expressed their “strong protest and anger over the unjust decision” by the state health services organisation (Okypy) to temporarily shut wards at the Polis Chrysochous hospital to transfer two specialist general physicians to the covid ward at Paphos hospital.

The move, they said, follows the recent transfer of a cardiologist from Polis hospital to Limassol hospital’s covid ward. The Polis hospital’s radiology and lab are also under-functioning, they said.

“Once again, unfortunately, the right of the residents of the remote Polis Chrysochous area to receive equal medical care is violated,” they said.

They added that despite the requests to the health ministry and Okypy for the upgrade of the Polis hospital, they feel that with the decisions taken, the hospital is headed for closure, since instead of being upgraded it is under-functioning.

They called on the health ministry and Okypy to reconsider their decision and upgrade the hospital and support “the just request of the residents of the wider Polis Chrysochous area for its proper operation.”

They warned that unless action is taken, they will take dynamic measures, saying they demand to have equal treatment in the field of public health, as the rest of Cyprus instead of being “the last cog in the wheel”.