By Jean Christou
OMBUDSMAN Nicos Charalambous said yesterday he would have intervened in the Aids priest furore if he had had the discretionary power to do so.
Charalambous was speaking before the House Human Rights Committee, which yesterday debated who was to blame for leaking the name of a priest who allegedly has Aids.
The motion to establish tighter controls against the naming of Aids sufferers was tabled to the Committee by Limassol Diko deputy Marios Matsakis.
In the case of the priest, whose identity was confirmed last week by Archbishop Chrysostomos as Archimandrite Pancratios Meraklis, criticism was rife as all sides blamed each other.
Charalambous said there had been a violation of the patient’s human rights; had he had the discretionary powers to intervene he would have done so, he said.
“The media failed to respect the rights of patients,” he said.
The newspapers were the last in a long line of those responsible for the publicity given to the case.
According to Akel deputy Kyriacos Tirimos, doctors had deliberately leaked the results of the test.
The media also shared responsibility by publishing the details contravening media ethics, he charged.
Matsakis said the Hippocratic oath had been violated by the laboratory that had carried out the test. He said the patient had given consent for an Aids tests.
Senior Health Ministry official Constantinos Mallis said the name was not leaked by the health services but by private individuals.
Officials from the Medical Association repeated that an investigation was under way, and said that if any doctor was found responsible, appropriate measures would be taken.
Representatives of the private laboratories blamed doctors, saying that Aids tests were only carried out on doctors’ instructions and written consent of the patient.
Defending the media, Journalists Union chief Andreas Kannaouros said the violation of ethics had first been committed by the doctors, the Church and only then by the media.
Former Justice Minister Alecos Evangelou, recently-appointed chairman of the Broadcasting Advisory Authority, said his organisation fully respected the issue of human rights, but “without ignoring the right of the public to information”. “The media has to be self-regulating,” he said.
