Patient accuses nurse of racist behaviour

A woman from North Macedonia says the behaviour of nurses at a medical centre in Nicosia was racist due to the patient’s place of origin.

According to daily Politis, a woman went to the state medical centre in Aglandjia, citing chest pains, where the doctor referred the patient to another department in order to get a cardiogram.

The woman greeted in English the three nurses at the EKG location, two females and one male, with the man asking why she would not speak Greek since she had a Greek Cypriot-sounding last name, according to Politis.

Following a casual conversation, the male nurse asked the patient about her place of origin, with the woman responding she was from North Macedonia and she had become a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus.

According to the patient, a female nurse was upset over the response.

“No such thing as North Macedonia, you are from Skopje,” the nurse told the woman.

The patient was then said to have demonstrated a fast heart rate according to her cardiogram. It was not immediately clear whether the type of tachycardia was related to a medical condition or physiological response to a stressful situation.

The woman returned  to the medical centre a couple of days later with her husband, hoping they could have a chat with the female nurse who made the earlier comment.

Politis reported that the couple did have a word with the female nurse, who told them she had the right to say whatever she wanted at her place of work.

The patient then asked for the nurse’s name but failed to get it from her or her colleagues, with the couple then being called into the doctor’s office along with staff involved in the incident. The nurse who made the comment in question reportedly did not attend the meeting.

According to Politis, the patient says the medical staff did not seem to believe they had done anything wrong, giving her the impression that they didn’t think they could face any consequences even if she filed a complaint.

The woman is said to be preparing a letter to the Commissioner for Administration and Protection of Human Rights, Ombudswoman Maria Stylianou-Lottides, as well as filing an official complaint with the Health Ministry.

Skopje is the capital of North Macedonia, where a naming dispute was resolved only recently between the country and its neighbour Greece.