HEALTH Minister Frixos Savvides assured the Sunday Mail yesterday he will not let a reported feud between two cardiologists in Limassol General Hospital continue.
Speaking after media reports of a recent spat between the two doctors in the presence of patients, Savvides said he did not wish to make any comment until the Head of Medical Services, Konstantinos Mallis, returns from leave tomorrow.
“Once he comes back, we will sit down and sort it out together,” Savvides said. “One thing’s for sure, we are not going to let it continue.”
Implicated in the fracas are Dr Michalis Minas, Head of the Cardiological Unit at the hospital, and cardiologist Dr Joseph Moutiris.
Politis reported yesterday that the two exchanged verbal abuse while pushing and shoving each other in front of patients. It said Moutiris has complained to the Health Ministry and that Minas has charged the ministry with indifference, inaction and bias, citing political allegiances.
In a letter to the ministry, Moutiris accused Minas of verbally abusing him while he was seeing a long-time patient at the cardiological unit, Politis said. Minas allegedly dragged him out the room, swearing and shouting at him to leave the clinic.
Moutiris also claims he was kept against his will in an office by Minas and a district official, who proceeded to warn him against visiting patients at the unit, according to the report.
Minas told Politis he rejected his associate’s claims. He maintained that Moutiris had been informed in writing from July 2 of his new duties in the outpatients ward, but that he continued to do as he pleased after his return from sick leave on August 16. Minas called on the Ministry to launch a disciplinary investigation against Moutiris for refusing to perform his duties and being absent from the workplace.
He also blamed the ministry for showing excessive tolerance, even after a District Officer had informed the ministry twice last week of the problem.
According to the newspaper report, Minas also implied that Moutiris’ past association with DIKO gave him protection in official circles, while Minas has been accused of getting support from opposition party AKEL.
Savvides said of the claims yesterday that “everyone is entitled to their opinion. There are no friends or connections involved here, just the best interests of the patients, nothing else.”
The two doctors were unavailable for comment yesterday.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
