GİRNE HOSPITAL GETS GO-AHEAD
GİRNE is set to have a new hospital, it was confirmed this week, after Ankara gave the green light to ambitious plans to upgrade health care in the town.
The news was given a cautious welcome by doctors’ leaders and mayor Nidai Güngördü.
However Mr Güngördü expressed annoyance that his municipality had not been kept informed, and vowed to block any scheme which did not pass through proper planning channels.
Health Minister Faiz Sucuoğlu said he expected the construction, on land near the Eziç Premier restaurant on the Girne bypass, to take two to three years after being put out to tender next year.
He declined to give details of the planned facility, but denied it would be on the buildoperate-transfer model planned for the country’s other hospital schemes, telling Cyprus Today yesterday: “We will use a special [funding] method but I don’t want to give any further information on that right now.”
Dr Sucuoğlu said there was particular need for a new hospital in Girne, where the population could swell to as much as 100,000 during the high season.
Shortcomings and lack of medical staff at the Girne Akçiçek Hospital were a prime motivating factor in a strike by the Cyprus Turkish Doctors’ Union (Tıp-İş) last month.
“The existing hospital . . . lacks the essential structure and facilities to meet this growing demand on the health service,” Dr Sucuoğlu admitted yesterday.
He said he had discussed the issue with Turkish officials, who had also asked them to report back on new and upgraded health facilities in Lefkoşa, the Karpaz, Güzelyurt and Yeşilyurt.
His ministry previously revealed plans to build a 200 million TL new state hospital in Lefkoşa — to treat more than a million patients and keep pace with the TRNC’s expected population growth over the next 15-25 years. Land has now been allocated for the construction, while a 72-bed hospital in the Karpaz is also in the pipeline.
Construction is under way on a 12 million TL, 50-bed hospital in Güzelyurt, while a revamp has also been agreed for the 85-year-old Cengiz Topel Hospital at Yeşilyurt.
Dr Sucuoğlu said: “Health care is one of the people’s basic rights and the [Girne] hospital remains insufficient to supply [this] in the town with a population increasing . . . in the summer with the arrival of tourists.
“We had come up with schemes to overcome health care issues in many towns . . .
but the problems in Girne remain.”
He added: “We already have plans to employ some 150 extra doctors at state hospitals across the country.”
Ahmet Varış, acting head of Tıp-iş, welcomed the news, but cautioned: “We don’t just need four walls. We need a fully equipped hospital with proper infrastructure and sufficient qualified staff . . . to upgrade health services.”
He added: “Officials needs to set down the figures for the number of [Girne’s] workers, students and visitors and then we can have full picture of the town’s population.”
Mr Güngördü said he had heard of the plan for a “muchneeded” new hospital, but the municipality had been given no detailed information.
“Girne has no room for unplanned developments any more. From now on, whatever is going to be done in the town in terms of development, including public services, hotels, schools etc, needs to be done properly,” he commented. “Its location is very important — it cannot just be done somewhere which would cause further disruption in the town . . . [and] we don’t want to see further traffic and parking problems.”