Investigation into allegation of malpractice by state doctors

THE Health Ministry has launched yet another investigation into allegations of malpractice by state doctors, it emerged yesterday.

Daily Phileleftheros reported yesterday that a group of women have complained that they underwent unsuccessful surgical operations but were not informed of their condition.

The state facility where the alleged botched surgeries took place was not named.

In one of the cases a woman underwent surgery to remove a contraceptive coil but doctors were unable to do so due to the time that elapsed – almost two decades –l since it was placed.

Coils are usually removed five years after they are inserted.

But the doctors allegedly failed to inform the patient of the development and she only found out a year later that the coil was still there while she was being treated for leukaemia.

In a second case a woman had surgery to remove her fallopian tubes but they allegedly also removed her ovaries without telling her.

Health Minister Christos Patsalides said yesterday that he had ordered an administrative investigation into the allegations.

The investigation will determine whether a disciplinary inquiry will be launched against the doctors.

The latest allegations follow on the heels of claims last week that a live newborn baby had been mistaken as being dead by medical staff at Limassol General Hospital.

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