Newsroom
Nurses at Larnaca General Hospital staged an unannounced work stoppage Wednesday, saying severe overcrowding and repeated overtime had pushed staff to their limits.
The action brought a problem usually contained behind hospital doors directly into public view: when wards are full and exhausted nurses stop working in protest, patients waiting for treatment may also feel the consequences.
PASYDY and its Nursing Staff Branch said the immediate cause was overcrowding at the hospital in recent days. According to the union, some patients have been left waiting for hours in the emergency department because no hospital beds were available.
Management opened five additional beds to ease the pressure, but these were staffed through overtime. The union said the move offered only temporary relief and placed even more strain on nurses already working beyond their regular hours.
Staff are now approaching professional burnout, the union warned, with continuous overtime affecting their physical and mental health. It said the pressure also carries risks for patient safety.
The union called on the State Health Services Organisation, or OKYPY, to introduce permanent solutions instead of relying on short-term measures that simply move the problem from one part of the hospital to another.
Larnaca General is the district’s largest hospital, with 202 inpatient beds and 51 day-care beds. Its accident and emergency department is the only secondary emergency unit in the district, serving around 170,000 permanent residents as well as a large number of travellers and other temporary visitors because of Larnaca’s airport and motorway connections.
For the average patient, the dispute is not simply about staff schedules. Overcrowded wards can mean longer waits in the emergency department, delays in admission, and nurses being asked to care for more patients while already exhausted.
It was not immediately clear how many nurses joined Wednesday’s stoppage, how long it lasted, or whether any patients were turned away. No public response from OKYPY had been issued at the time of writing.
