Newsroom
Non-urgent surgeries may soon be postponed, and private hospital beds brought into play, as Cyprus’s public hospitals struggle to keep up with a growing wave of patients sick with the flu and other seasonal viruses.
Hospitals are now operating at nearly 90% capacity, forcing health authorities and frontline staff to look for ways to free up beds as admissions continue to rise. While emergency room visits have not spiked dramatically, more patients are arriving with serious conditions, mainly respiratory infections, that require hospitalization.
Speaking on SPORT FM 95’s “Diaspora News,” Panagiotis Savva, secretary of PASYDY’s Nursing Branch, said the pressure has become visible inside emergency departments. In some cases, patients have waited up to 48 hours for a bed, while four to five ambulances were left waiting outside A&E units because no beds were available.
To ease congestion, Savva said two immediate measures are being discussed: delaying scheduled surgeries that are not urgent and having the Health Ministry step in to secure beds in private hospitals.
Health officials insist the situation remains under control, despite the strain.
OKYPY spokesperson Charalambos Charilaou told Kathimerini that hospitals are under increased pressure due to infections but are being assessed and managed daily. “There may be difficulties, but emergency cases are being handled,” he said.
Charilaou added that many of the patients being admitted are coming from nursing homes, a factor contributing to the high occupancy levels.
For now, hospitals are coping, but healthcare workers warn that without swift relief, the system could be pushed even closer to its limits as the seasonal virus surge continues.
