Reports of the death of a six-year-old child on Monday, sent from Paphos general hospital to Nicosia for treatment, prompted a severe response from the district’s mayor, who reiterated the urgent need for improved health facilities.

In a post decrying the tragedy, Phedonas Phedonas said it had occurred because Paphos hospital had been “unable to handle the case and had no bed available” to treat the child.

“Some don’t even respect the lives of young children. Those who [allow] the hospital to remain in a state of inadequacy bear a massive responsibility,” the mayor said.

He told Kathimerini that “until the winter’s end two or three more children would die” as a result of the state of affairs.

Only on Sunday, Phedonos had posted the case of another child suffering from pneumonia, which had to be rushed from Polis to Limassol for treatment as neither of the local facilities had the capacity to cope with the child’s medical needs.

According to reports, the child who died had been taken to the Paphos facility with gastroenteritis five days ago.

Unanswered demands for improved medical facilities continue to fall on deaf ears, several local authorities in the Paphos district have repeatedly claimed.

The Polis Chrysochous hospital was in the spotlight during President Nikos Christodoulides’ visit to the area over the weekend.

Asked about Mayor Yiotis Papachristofi’s letter demanding a new hospital to cover the needs of his constituents, Christodoulides remained non-committal merely stating that he had held meetings with the health services organisation (Okypy) about the state of hospitals “throughout Cyprus.”

Papachristofis has repeatedly sought to rectify the longstanding matter of upgrading health care provision in the relatively remote part of the district, while elderly residents, including cancer patients and others, are currently forced to regularly travel as far as Limassol for routine treatments.