Doctor reprimanded after failing to show up for emergency

A DOCTOR at the Paphos General Hospital has been seriously reprimanded after giving instructions to a pregnant woman in pain by phone, despite being on duty.

According to press reports on Thursday, a gynecologist who was on call on Monday night did not show up at the hospital when a heavily pregnant woman arrived at the hospital complaining of unbearable stomach pains.

Instead, the Paphos doctor gave advice and instructions to the 34-year-old woman over the phone. The reports claim that the gynecologist spoke to other doctors on duty, telling that they should give the woman an injection before releasing her.

However, the woman, seven months pregnant, returned to the hospital three hours later complaining that her pains were getting worse. The doctor on call was contacted for a second time by phone and told staff members that the 34-year-old should be admitted to the hospital.

The pregnant woman was then checked by a duty midwife who determined that she was about to give birth. Because of the seriousness of the situation for both the mother and the child, it was decided that she be taken with an ambulance to the Makarios Hospital in Nicosia, accompanied by a nurse and a pediatrician.

A Paphos General Hospital representative confirmed the story on Thursday and according to comments he made to daily Politis, the gynecologist had been disciplined for not making her way immediately to the hospital once she found out about the incident.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.