The public healthcare system is facing unprecedented pressure as patients flood doctors’ offices and emergency rooms with flu symptoms and other seasonal infections.
“Last week was the worst in terms of mass attendance since we began operating as personal doctors”, Mary Avraamidou, vice president of the Scientific Association of Personal Doctors, told philenews, noting a surge in flu complications including bronchitis.
The outbreak comes as flu arrived two weeks earlier than usual across Europe this year, coinciding with continued circulation of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Avraamidou noted.
Emergency departments are experiencing severe overcrowding, with patients waiting hours for hospital admission. At Nicosia General Hospital’s emergency department, around ten patients were waiting for beds by midday Friday.
The State Health Services Organisation (SHSO) has added extra beds to meet demand, spokesman Charalambos Charilaou said.
Healthcare workers have called for public caution, with government doctors’ union president Sotiris Koumas urging people with symptoms to self-isolate to prevent virus transmission.
The Cyprus Pharmaceutical Association renewed calls for pharmacies to administer flu vaccines, with president Ploutarchos Georgiades noting that pharmacy-based vaccination in other EU countries has achieved up to 99% coverage rates.
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