A senior nursing officer with Cyprus’s Mental Health Services told Parliament’s Health Committee that society sweeps its problems “under the carpet,” with people suffering psychiatric conditions often only seeking help once they have reached breaking point, due to persistent stigma in Cypriot society. His remarks stunned the committee.

Anthos Giannapis, chief nursing officer for the Mental Health Services, said staff had struggled for years to find locations to relocate people needing support, explaining that whenever they tried to set up a facility in an area, residents would object, asking, in his words, “are you going to bring us the crazies?” He said residents would then collect signatures against the facility, forcing staff to search for another area.

Giannapis said that at the Athalassa Psychiatric Hospital, staff can tell when a problematic batch of drugs has entered Cyprus from the number of hospital admissions and the condition of the young people arriving. He said the entire burden of responsibility should not fall on the State Health Services Organisation (SHSO/OKYPY) alone.

He said people with autism are being held at Athalassa Hospital because no alternative facility exists to accommodate them, adding that OKYPY is not the only body responsible for this.

According to Giannapis, 121 people are currently held at Athalassa Hospital under compulsory hospitalisation, meaning by court order. “We’re talking about overcrowding,” he said, asking how staff could be expected to discharge these patients when no supportive environment exists for them at home.

The number of readmissions, meaning patients who return to hospital after being discharged, reflects the scale of the problem. Last year, out of 1,022 admissions, around 550 were readmissions.

Parliament’s Health Committee is discussing the problems facing the Mental Health Services, covering both Athalassa Hospital and the services provided to psychiatric patients more broadly.

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