The nurses even held meetings with the Chief of Police, so that measures could be taken by the state through the executive and legislative branches to avoid incidents of violence against healthcare professionals, according to PASYNO Secretary General Savvas Iacovou, who noted that unfortunately nothing has been done so far. A representative of the PASYDY nurses' branch said for his part that they are demanding the implementation of relevant decisions.
The nursing staff working in the triage area of the Accident and Emergency Department (AEDT) of Larnaca General Hospital went on a spontaneous work stoppage between 9-10 this morning, expressing their protest over yesterday's incident of verbal violence against a colleague, while the Police confirmed for their part that a Police Officer was also insulted during the incident.
In his statements during the spontaneous work stoppage, Mr. Iakovou also said that they had meetings with the Directorate of the OKYpY, receiving assurances that they would try to resolve it, however, he noted that "it seems they cannot do it on their own or it has not been possible to do so until now."
He referred to yesterday's incident, saying that this morning in a space outside the hospital, inside a container due to renovations in the room, without an emergency exit, a patient and two of his companions verbally attacked an officer in the triage area.
"There was no way out, for him to leave, there was no question of waiting, but of poor communication. The incident could not have been avoided and despite the intervention of the Police, the victim was ultimately the police officer who could not cope at the given moment," he said.
According to the Secretary General of PASYNO, "the police officer has not filed a complaint so far," while regarding the officer, he said that "after the incident, she was unable to return to work and perform her duties."
Furthermore, the General Nursing Personnel Branch of PASYDY conducted an on-site visit to the Larnaca TAEP and discussed extensively with the nurses the safety issues they face. It once again calls for the protection of the personnel who staff the TAEP.
Nurse Andronikos Andronikou, representative of the PASYDY nurses' union, said for his part that they are proceeding with a spontaneous work stoppage "because the same thing has been happening for years." "We notice that we are present in the same project. This is not the first incident, it is an incident that occurs in all hospitals, so many decisions have been made on this issue but none are being implemented," he said.
He noted that they want decisions to be implemented. "We want those who provoke these violent decisions against any personnel working in the health sector to be punished accordingly by law," he said, noting that they are not asking for anything more than to work in a safe environment.
Source: KYPE
