Paediatric wards in hospitals are reaching capacity due to a surge in infections and RSV, prompting the State Health Services Organisation (OKYPY) to increase the number of available beds.
Speaking to Protoselido, OKYPY spokesperson Charalambos Charilaou stated that the situation is extremely difficult, with a significant increase in patient flow at the Accident and Emergency Departments (A&E) of public hospitals.
“There is currently an outbreak of RSV, particularly among children,” he highlighted.
“All paediatric beds are occupied, and the organisation has responded by increasing capacity in nearly all hospitals,” he added. “We now have over 100 available beds in paediatric wards, around 105 in total.”
Charilaou also noted that securing a paediatric bed is becoming a challenge due to the surge in respiratory infections, both upper and lower.
When asked if this is a recurring winter phenomenon, he explained that it typically occurs every winter; however, this year the spike began earlier than expected, particularly for RSV cases.
He pointed out that “over the past weekend alone, we exceeded 200 patients visiting Nicosia’s A&E, 80 of whom were children.”
When questioned about the high number of visits during weekends, Charilaou stressed that it is primarily because personal doctors are unavailable on weekdays, leading to patients not being seen.
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