By Martin Hellicar
PRIVATE sector doctors yesterday rushed to the defence of a colleague accused of negligence by the family of a mother who died after giving birth at his Larnaca clinic last week.
Both the Pancyprian Medical Association and the Pancyprian Gynaecological Society issued statements stressing that the doctor in question should not be condemned out of hand.
The tragic death of Athena Vronti, 25, from Pyla village, is the subject of a police investigation and much media attention.
Vronti developed complications and bled to death a few hours after giving birth to her second daughter at around 7.30am last Thursday. The clinic got the victim’s husband, Stelios, to ferry blood across town from Larnaca hospital for his wife who was dying on the operating table.
Following an inconclusive post-mortem examination, further tissue tests are being carried out to determine the exact cause of Vronti’s death.
The media and the family should await the findings of the coroner’s inquest before passing judgment on the doctor involved, both private doctors’ groups insisted yesterday.
“We want to assure everyone that we are determined — should it be proved that the tragic incident was due to medical negligence – – not to hesitate to take the necessary action as provided for in the Medical Association regulations,” the Association stated.
The Association added that it “understood” the victim’s family “reacting and accusing” in the way it had, but not the way the media had “attacked” the doctor in question.
“If criminals are considered innocent until proved otherwise, we have to wonder why a doctor is denied this right,” the Association stated.
The Gynaecological Society echoed the Association’s statements and added that attacks on the competence of private clinics were unjustified.
In the wake of the death, pathologist Marios Matsakis said private clinics were not properly equipped to deal with emergencies.
“Every year in Cyprus thousands of births are successfully carried out in the private sector, and in some districts these far exceed those carried out in government institutions,” the Society retorted. It added that rates of death during childbirth in Cyprus compared favourably with the rest of Europe.
Diko deputy Matsakis — who represented Vronti’s family at the autopsy — also said the mother had a medical condition which meant she needed a specialist to oversee the birth.
Health Minister Frixos Savvides has stated a check on the Larnaca clinic had shown it met all standards required by law.
The doctor at the centre of the row has refused to make any statements till after the conclusion of the coroner’s inquest.
