The Famagusta General Hospital allegedly asked a man to take his mother’s lifeless body home and turn on the air conditioning because, as they had informed him, the air conditioning in the hospital mortuary was not working.
This is what the man reported, in a letter to the Ministry of Health and the Attorney General.
Speaking on Alpha TV, the family’s lawyer, Chrysanthos Lazarou, recounted the events of the case, stating that the family’s first complaint concerns the ambulance call system, and the second is against the Ammochostos mortuary and hospital staff.
Specifically, as the lawyer mentioned, the man found his mother unconscious at her home on February 1 and called 112, but received no response.
He then called the Famagusta General Hospital and was referred to call 112 again, explaining that they did not respond to his calls.
Finally, he was given another number and called the Ambulance Coordination Centre, with the ambulance arriving within five minutes when it was discovered that the woman was dead.
Subsequently, on the same day, the son of the deceased was summoned to testify at the Deryneia Police Station and while giving his testimony to exclude the possibility of malicious action, he received a call from the Famagusta General Hospital informing him that due to the physical size of the deceased, she could not fit in the freezer box and that the air conditioning in the special room where they would place her was not functioning.
Hospital staff urged the son of the deceased to go to the hospital, collect his mother’s body, and transport her himself to a room with air conditioning.
Meanwhile, according to the complaint, the two police officers before whom the discussion took place reported to the son of the deceased that they were called by the hospital to pick up the body with the patrol car and transfer it to another hospital where the freezer box might fit.
The next day, a hospital official from Famagusta called the son of the deceased again and tried to persuade him to bury his mother on the same day instead of the scheduled day because, as he was told, the deceased would start to smell since the air conditioning was not working.
The family called a funeral home and a person who went to the hospital to pick up the deceased noticed alteration in the body and wondered why she was not placed in the freezer box, as in his opinion, she would easily fit.
In a statement, the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) states that it has not received any complaints about the incident.
“According to the information we have from public statements, a letter was sent to the Ministry of Health and the Attorney General, and therefore the Organisation does not wish to make any statement at this stage,” it says.
