Stroke patient who waited for hours at A&E ‘receiving full medical care’ says Okypy

A stroke patient who waited for about seven hours on a stretcher at the Paphos accidents and emergency department “is receiving full medical care” state health services organisation (Okypy) said over the weekend.

The incident was reported by Paphos Mayor Phedonas Phedonos, who posted about the patient on his social media.

According to the post, a patient with a stroke visited the A&E of the Paphos general hospital on Saturday around 2pm and until 8.45pm the individual was still on a stretcher because there were no available beds.

In response, Okypy issued a brief written statement on Saturday evening, clarifying that the “patient from the first moment of his transfer to the ICU is receiving full medical care and his condition is stable”.

The necessary steps were taken in time to transfer the patient to a private hospital, Okypy said, but “unfortunately, the absence of appropriate specialist doctors in some private units made it impossible to transfer him”.

Paphos as well as Limassol state hospital has been operating at full capacity in recent days, the organisation added.

This is not the first time Okypy had to defend the handling of patients at the Paphos public hospital, where medical staff have also denounced the poor working conditions.

In May, the organisation running the general health scheme (Gesy) responded to who had to wait at the A&E department for over three hours. It said that “all necessary medical protocols were activated” and the woman received “all appropriate emergency care”.

Meanwhile, the doctors working there have previously held a series of strikes over staffing issues at the department, with the most recent one being in April.

Last year, Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos described conditions at Paphos general hospital as “tragic, appalling and utterly shameful”.