THE ULTRASOUND machine at the gynaecology ward at Limassol General Hospital has been broken for an unbelievable 16 months, forcing pregnant women to either go private or travel to Paphos hospital for scans.
And it’s not only pregnant women who are affected.
Ultrasound screening is also carried out for a number of other tests including checks for ovarian cysts or cancer, and infertility checks.
But since November 2007, the ultrasound, one of the most basic pieces of equipment in gynaecology, has neither been replaced nor fixed at Limassol hospital.
Health Ministry officials say it’s not an issue of cost but a matter of the procedures involved in the tenders process.
In the meantime women who need a scan are forced to pay out around €100 by going to private clinics. Or they have to travel an hour or so to Paphos hospital.
“Access to health care is a basic human right. All these [government] ministers are driving around in limousines, while women are treated in this way. It is scandalous,” a frustrated patient speaking on condition of anonymity told the Sunday Mail.
“They could have at least tried to fix it,” said another irate patient who was forced to shell out for a private doctor.
But Andreas Georgiou, Supplies and Offers Officer at the Ministry of Health said there was little the Ministry could do about replacing the broken piece of equipment.
“Although the bidding process has moved on substantially, it is unfortunately a long technical process that allows any bidder to make objections or comments and go to court challenging decisions. We are not evading responsibility, but it is a long process,” he said.
Georgiou also explained that contracting a company to provide a new ultrasound machine was not the responsibility of the Ministry of Health, but of the Ministry of Communications.
“In the case of ultrasounds we may be responsible for supplying hospitals, but it is the Electromechanical Services, Public Works Department and the Ministry of Communications that is responsible for the bidding process,” Georgiou said.
“Although they are trying their best, and although we have been saying that this is an urgent need, the bidding process has not been completed,” he added.
Meanwhile, patients at the ward have been suffering for well over a year, as the ultrasound is one of the most basic pieces of equipment for pregnancy examinations.
“My dog is pregnant and when I took her to the vet, she had an ultrasound. However, I couldn’t get one at the hospital,” the first patient said.
According to Georgiou, efforts are being made to fix the existing ultrasound, so that it can operate until the new machine finally arrives. “I have asked that we buy a probe for the existing machine until the new one comes. I am making huge efforts for this to happen,” he said.
The ultrasound scandal is just one incident in a catalogue of failures plaguing the health sector, from government doctors-on-call who don’t answer their phones, to tainted blood supplies, to accident and emergency nurses who refuse to triage patients.
(see editorial)
