Press Releases

Following the decree issued by the Minister of Health on the 19^th of March 2020 and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus No. 107, it has been decided, inter alia, that:

Aiming at protecting Public Health, for the better management of human resources and for the protection of health professionals working in Public Hospitals, who will be called upon to play the primary role of managing cases that may become seriously ill by coronavirus, the following are put in to practise as of March 20, at 06.00, in consultation with the Epidemiological Surveillance Unit:

Lemesos and Pafos General Hospitals:

• Suspend the operation of Outpatient Specialty Practices (Scheduled and Urgent), as well as all surgical procedures. Patients should address the Private Sector (Evangelismos Private Hospital and Blue Cross Medical Centre for Pafos District and Mediterranean for Lemesos Province) as an agreement has been reached between the Ministry of Health and hospitals regarding the above services.

• Exceptions would be provided for hematology, oncology, hemodialysis and thalassemia cases, where special arrangements will be made to ensure the safety of patients and staff. Patients should be referred to the appropriate clinics.

• The Accident and Emergency Departments suspend their operations for 72 hours. All incidents will be handled by the Private Sector Nurses mentioned above apart from exceptional cases that cannot be handled by the Private Sector. The Accident and Emergency Department of the Private Sector that will work with the Public Sector Hospitals (Evangelismos in Pafos and Mediterranean in Lemesos) should contact the appropriate on-call Public Hospital Clinic for cases and services that are not offered in the Private Sector, in order to ensure the best response by respective Public Nursing Clinics.

• Imaging and clinical laboratories will continue to operate, on the basis of coronavirus protection protocol.

• Blood Banks will continue to serve the Private and Public Sector for blood needs, as before.

Lefkosia General Hospital

• Suspension of non-urgent cases and handling of emergency treatment cases (where the Private Sector cannot respond).

• The Accident and Emergency will only handle emergencies.

• Suspension of Cardiovascular Surgery and Vascular Surgery.

Larnaka General Hospital

• Suspends the operation of Outpatient Specialty Practitioners, as well as all scheduled surgeries.

• The Accident and Emergency Department will only handle emergencies.

 Ammochostos General Hospital

Ammochostos General Hospital continues to operate as a reference hospital for confirmed cases of Covid-19. In addition, the Hospital shall continue to operate the Accident and Emergency Department, as well as the Hemodialysis Unit.

General rules for all Public Hospitals

• Strict ban on visiting in all hospitals, continues.

• Specialist pharmacy clinics in Nurses will only work for chronic patients.

The measures are effective from tomorrow the 20^th of March 2020.

These guidelines will be revised in the light of new developments.

On behalf of the Minister of Health and the Governing Council of the State Health Services Organization(SHSO), we would like to express our thanks to all Public Health Hospitals and Clinics who are at the forefront of public health protection, as well as to the Private Practitioners, who volunteered to provide their services to the Ministry of Health, through the Pancyprian Medical Association.

The State Health Services Organization (SHSO) will keep you up to date on any developments.

We urge everyone to act responsibly and follow the instructions of the Ministry of Health in order to protect the health of us all.

United we stand! #thatakataferoume.

(DK/EK)