AKEL MP Efrem H. Christou has described conditions at the Accident and Emergency Department of Nicosia General Hospital after his own recent health scare, highlighting what he said were shortages, overcrowding and the human stories unfolding daily in the hospital's corridors.
According to a social media post by the MP, he sought treatment on Monday night after suffering repeated vomiting caused by acute gastroenteritis. His experience prompted broader reflections on pressures facing the healthcare system, the challenges encountered by both patients and staff, and the allocation of public resources.
“However much we complain, the people there are battling with very limited means,” he wrote. “Very few rooms and severe understaffing. As a result, many people who go there suffer before receiving care. Naturally, pressure from the public also creates tensions for healthcare professionals.”
The 83-year-old refugee
Christou said one of the incidents that affected him most involved an 83-year-old woman from Lefkoniko, who was waiting in pain to be examined.
According to his account, the woman was initially placed on a bed but was later told that other cases had greater priority and was moved to a chair.
He recalled a conversation between them:
“Are you a nurse, my son?” she asked.
“No, I'm a patient too,” he replied.
The woman then expressed her frustration.
“First time I've seen things like this. An 83-year-old woman being taken off a bed and told to sit on a chair.”
The exchange took place between 2am and 3am, he said.
When he asked whether conditions had been similar during previous visits, she responded:
“No, my son. It used to be much better. And I wonder... where do all those millions go? What do they spend them on when they don't care about the most important thing, which is health?”
The woman later stretched out across three chairs in an attempt to rest.
“Once she lay down across three consecutive chairs, I had no doubt that statistics can be very far removed from people,” Christou wrote.
Mother and children sleeping in the waiting area
Among the scenes that stood out to him was that of a foreign worker waiting for medical treatment with her two children.
According to Christou, the woman and her children were sleeping on waiting-room chairs after spending many hours at the hospital.
“Where else could she leave them?” he wrote, noting that the children waited patiently without complaint while their mother awaited treatment.
He also encountered a Cypriot couple living abroad who politely expressed dissatisfaction with the situation.
Assault victim arrives alone
Another incident that troubled him involved a young man who arrived at the hospital alone after allegedly being beaten and robbed.
Christou suggested that greater discretion could have been shown in handling the case, noting that the first question put to the young man was:
“Were they foreigners?”
According to Christou, the young man's reply was:
“No, they were Cypriots. I couldn't see them because they had me on the ground and were hitting me, but I recognised them from the language.”
“Statistics are far removed from people”
Christou said his intention was not merely to document problems in the emergency department but to share what he witnessed as a patient rather than as a politician.
The sight of people waiting, the suffering of elderly patients and the difficulties faced by families led him to reflect on the human dimension of healthcare.
He also referred to an elderly woman who repeatedly cried out in distress, saying the experience made him think about people living with long-term illness, for whom such scenes are a daily reality.
Returning home on Tuesday morning, he said he remembered a saying attributed to Saint Paisios:
“Whenever you pass a hospital, make the sign of the cross three times. Once for the sick, once for their companions and once for yourself, because you are well and not inside.”
Budget priorities
The MP linked his experience to discussions on the state budget, arguing that fiscal surpluses cannot be an end in themselves if public spending fails to address citizens' needs.
“Healthcare needs workers who have the necessary tools to support it, and society, whether right-wing, left-wing or centrist, will never ask why you spent one euro of my money to provide five more beds and two more doctors,” he wrote.
Christou concluded by saying that despite temporarily stepping back from some duties because of his illness, he continues to study the budgets of parliamentary committees he follows, aiming to remain consistent in defending citizens' needs and ensuring his political interventions are matched by action.
