Experts give safety warnings over new pandemic hospital

EXPERTS have warned that the safety of patients and medical staff could be put at risk by a 100-bed pandemic hospital that is being built on a site said to be prone to flooding.

The new “emergency hospital” is due to open within weeks near the existing Lefkoşa State Hospital. Construction work has been continuing at a fast pace since the foundations were laid at the end of August.

The Cyprus Turkish Union of Engineers’ and Architects’ Chambers (KTMMOB) said it had made a bid to halt construction at a meeting with the Prime Ministry’s Disaster and Emergency Management Committee.

“We called on the committee to fulfil its duties in relation to the pandemic hospital which is being constructed in a potential disaster area,” a KTMMOB statement said following the meeting.

The head of KTMMOB, Seran Aysal, said that the purpose of the committee was to prevent possible disasters by taking proactive action but that its members were “ignoring science and our warnings”.

“The location of the hospital is incorrect in view of the extensive floods that have occurred there in recent years and which have been the worst in Lefkoşa,” Mr Aysal said.

“They simply could not have chosen a worse location which will create serious risks for patients and staff in severe weather conditions.”

Mr Aysal said that his union had previously warned the authorities about the hospital site at a meeting in June 2019 that involved the president, the prime minister, government officials and civil defence chiefs.

“We gave a detailed explanation at that meeting of the risk to the hospital that was posed by floods which regularly occur where it is being built,” Mr Aysal said.

“Our findings were fully shared with the decision makers but continue to be ignored. No governmental studies have been carried out and no measures taken against the risks, despite all the warnings over the past 10 years.

“The consequences of a flood hitting the pandemic hospital and Lefkoşa is therefore the responsibility of the authorities, who consistently ignored our warnings.”

Turkey is funding construction of the new hospital, although the cost has not been divulged, with Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay saying: “The support and contributions of Turkey to the Turkish Cypriot people will continue.”

STAFF at the new pandemic hospital will have an isolation cabin and their own entry/exit door, Health Minister Ali Pilli said during a recent visit to the construction site.

The new hospital “will provide a safe environment” for doctors and other health workers, adding: “Work is being carried out night and day without a break to complete all building work as soon as possible.”