Limasol neonatal unit outdated and ‘third world’

LIMASSOL’S pre-natal care unit at the general hospital resembles that of a third world country and is outdated, the House health committee heard on Thursday.

In light of the recent events that have shamed the health sector including a dead baby found at a morgue trashcan, the birth of a still born twin a mother had no idea she was expecting and the death of an infant after it was infected by acinetobacter bacteria, MPs sought to discuss the plaguing issues.

Currently, Makarios hospital in Nicosia is the only one on the island to have a neonatal intensive care unit, while Limassol just has a small care unit with ten beds, DISY MP Efthimios Diplaros said.

It is now necessary to open a proper one in Limassol as one third of the Nicosia patients are from Limassol and Paphos.

“In 2014 there were 522 admissions to the Limassol unit, compared to 431 in 2012. The transfers to the Nicosia general hospital reached 51 in 2014,” Diplaros said.

Moreover, transporting the infants carries a huge risk to their lives, he added.

“Unfortunately, ambulances do not have the necessary equipment. Oxygen is in bottles that depending on the driving, swing backwards and forwards that risk the infant while being transferred or the medical staff getting hit.”

Infants receive oxygen using an air bag and the whole process is time consuming and ill advised for the infant’s health.

Although several studies and cost evaluations have been undertaken in the past on establishing a proper unit at Limassol General hospital, nothing has yet moved forward and Diplaros expressed his hope that through registering the issue, it could be resolved.

DIKO MP Athina Kyriakidou said Limassol’s unit had been established 30 years ago and has since not been upgraded.

“Creating a neonatal intensive care unit in Limassol general hospital I believe is sine qua non… the current situation is described as that of the third world.”