THE CONDITION of a baby born three months’ prematurely has stabilised but she is yet to breathe unaided, her doctor said yesterday.
The little girl, whose age is now estimated at being a little over 24 weeks, was delivered prematurely in Limassol General Hospital nearly two weeks ago.
Weighing in at a mere 900 grammes, the unnamed baby is recovering at a satisfactory rate and has even managed to drink some milk. She is being taken care of in the intensive care unit of the Makarios Hospital.
“Every day looks more positive but obviously only time will tell if she will survive,” Head of the Paediatric Unit at Nicosia’s Makarios Hospital Dr Andreas Hadjidemetriou said yesterday.
Meanwhile, investigations continue into the circumstances of her delivery in Limassol. Initial media reports said a cleaner had found the child ‘on a pile of clothes, and left for dead’, having been mistaken for an 18-week old miscarried foetus.
But Limassol Hospital Director Chrysostomos Andronicou yesterday dismissed all such claims, saying his own internal investigation and subsequent interviews with all the staff on duty had revealed such a sequence of events to be inconceivable.
“The child was being cared for in a place where premature babies are taken. There is just no chance that medical staff would have left a newborn baby – in any condition – in the manner described in the media last week.”
Andronicou said the matter had been taken to the police by the baby’s mother but it is still unclear what specific crime she is alleging to have taken place. He added that his hospital had not been contacted by the investigators.
Limassol CID yesterday presented the findings of its own investigations to the Attorney-general Petros Clerides.
A spokesperson from Clerides’ office yesterday said the AG had sent the file back requesting additional statements from those involved.
Meanwhile, police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos yesterday told the Cyprus News Agency that the AG has recommended a meeting between the Chief of Police and the Health Minister and a panel of experts to examine the standard procedure for such cases – and if such procedures had been observed during this instance.
Acting Head of Medical Services Chrystodoulos Kaisis yesterday refused to comment on the case, as the ministry’s own investigation has not been completed.
