Paphos looks towards full reopening of general hospital

The Paphos general hospital had to close down due to a coronavirus outbreak within its wards

With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals and healthcare facilities become the front lines of the battle against the disease. Unfortunately, healthcare professionals working there are also those who are the most prone to getting infected which in turn doubles the strain on the healthcare system.

In the Cypriot city of Paphos, the situation in its general hospital quickly turned from bad to worse at the start of the crisis in the middle of last month, when a large cluster of COVID-19 was discovered on its premises. That led to the enforcement of large-scale quarantine measures on the hospital’s staff – doctors, nurses, technicians and others until the gravity of the situation could be determined.

Working towards the future

Ever since, local authorities have been focusing on getting the Paphos general hospital fully operational. The quarantining of large numbers of its staff left it undermanned and forced it to adapt to new and unfortunate circumstances. Ever since the outbreak, only two temporary wings of the hospital have been working – a nursing station and a testing clinic – not at all enough compared to what is needed to service the healthcare needs of the city.

Nonetheless, healthcare professionals are appealing to the hospital’s interim management to adapt the approaches of other similar venues when it comes to the discovery of cases among staff. According to medics, both private and public hospitals around the country facing similar situations have managed to successfully disinfect their premises and quickly return to work – while the Paphos general hospital has been out of service for over five weeks.

Currently, however, there is no concrete plan for how the hospital will get back to its full capacity – as the situation is developing far too quickly and the management is responding to constantly shifting circumstances.

Hospital and healthcare workers are the most important assets during the pandemic, and the proper and efficient care for both the venues and the personnel that works there should be of paramount importance to any local, regional and national administration.