Two male patients have died following a fire at the Dr. Burhan Nalbantoğlu state hospital in Nicosia.
The fire, which was said to have broken out at around 6.45am in the hospital’s angiography department was extinguished at about 9am.
Around 300 patients from the cardiovascular surgery, gynaecology and general surgery clinics, the intensive care unit and also newborns being treated in the neonatal clinic, were taken to other hospitals.
Two male in-patients, aged 74 and 62, were transferred to a private hospital where they died. The 74-year-old man was an in-patient at the hospital’s intensive care when the fire broke out.
The only department not affected by the fire was oncology.
President Mustafa Akinci went to the hospital to assess the situation.
He said that after waking up to the “bitter news” of more Turkish soldiers being killed in Idlib by Syrian air strikes, he also learned about the fire at the hospital. The president said that lessons must be learned from this disaster and that the necessary measures must be taken so that it does not happen again.
Additionally, President Nicos Anastasiades also expressed his sorrow at the news and said that he had contacted President Akinci to express readiness to provide assistance if necessary.
Yeni Duzen, Cyprus Mail
