THE PARENTS of 11 newborns afflicted with Legionnaires’ disease claimed they had never once been contacted by the private Nicosia hospital where their children contracted the bacteria.
“There was no explanation. No apology. Nothing. As strange as that may sound it’s true,” said one of the parents, who wished to remain unnamed.
He said the Hippocration had mishandled everything from the word go and its failure to provide the parents with information about their children “was inhuman”.
Adding insult to injury, the private hospital not only failed to inform the parents that the newborns had contracted legionella from its neonatal unit, but it also sent out invoices demanding payment for the mothers’ hospital stay. Failure to settle the outstanding bill within 30 days would result in prosecution, the invoices stated.
Several parents received such an invoice, while other parents had already settled their bills, he said.
No one from the private hospital was available for comment.
However Hippocration director Costas Kastanos has apparently already apologised for the invoices, which he put down to a “processing error”. The hospital had already contacted the parents affected both in writing and on the phone, he told Politis.
Kastanos also said the parents would not be expected to pay the outstanding amount for the women’s hospital stay and that the hospital would return the money to the parents who already had.
But this was not good enough for the angry parent whose baby had been born healthy and almost died because “they didn’t contact us in time to tell us there was a problem”.
“On Sunday [December 27] morning the Makarios hospital had admitted six children for treatment. All had been born at the Hippocration. The Makarios hospital contacted them to tell them there was a problem and to notify the parents. This was never done,” he said.
Makarios hospital paediatric head, Dr Andreas Hadjidemetriou, confirmed he had contacted the Hippocration about the problem but that he had made the phone call at 8pm, not the morning.
“I contacted the Hippocration and said several children had been admitted displaying the same clinical picture. I voiced concern that the epidemic had started from the clinic. It was discussed that the parents should be contacted,” he said.
Hadjidemetriou then contacted Drs Androulla Agrotou and Chrystalla Hadjianastasiou at the Health Ministry. Both went directly to the Makarios hospital where they examined the infants and discussed possible diagnoses until midnight, he said.
The doctors came up with two to three likely diseases which required specific tests.
“In the morning samples were sent to Nicosia general hospital for analysis and by lunchtime we had a confirmation that it was Legionnaires’ disease,” he said.
By the time Makarios hospital had received the results, the parents were already aware something was amiss.
“I was at hospital all night and in the morning another newborn came in with the same symptoms. We got talking and found both had been born at the Hippocration around the same time. We told the Makarios hospital staff and they said it wasn’t just two children, but seven that had been admitted,” the father said.
“I went straight to the press to warn other parents whose children had been born at the Hippocration to come and get their children examined.”
He said four more sick infants were found this way.
The parent accused the Hippocration of trying to bury the outbreak for the sake of its name and reputation.
“This is a crime,” he said.
The distraught father said he was still too upset to think about filing charges against the private hospital or about getting his money back.
“It’s about the children. I had a child born healthy which was placed into a room with poison in the air,” he said.
The Labour Ministry’s Labour Inspection Department had failed by not carrying out frequent inspections at hospitals and clinics to ensure they adhered to health and safety standards, he said.
The Hippocration had failed by not maintaining and processing its water supply, which had allowed the bacteria to develop in the first place. The dirty water was then placed in a humidifier which had then multiplied and released the bacteria into the air, he said.
“Everyone keeps off shrugging responsibility. No one wants to be held accountable. We don’t want this to happen again. Justice must be served. Someone must go to court over this,” he said.
No one from the Labour Inspection Department or the State Laboratory was available for comment.
