In a serious complaint to the Patient Observatory of the Federation of Cyprus Patient Associations (OSAK), the family of an elderly man who was hospitalized with coronavirus and fell out of bed, requiring surgery and then rehabilitation.
< p>This is one of the dozens of complaints received by the Federation in January and according to what the family complained, the elderly patient was transferred to a public hospital with coronavirus and placed in a covid monitoring ward. During his stay, the elderly man fell out of bed and after an hour he was noticed by the nursing staff.
As the family states in its complaint, the elderly man, after examinations, was found to have suffered a power fracture and the doctors deemed it necessary to proceed with an operation. Afterwards, the elderly man needed rehabilitation and was taken by his relatives to a rehabilitation center. In essence, the man's relatives complained to OSAK of negligence, since he was admitted to the hospital for another reason and is now facing a more serious health problem.
However, the family's complaint was forwarded through OSAK to the State Health Services Organization, which in a reply letter stated that due to the fact that the patient was in a ward for patients with covid, it was not possible to be continuously monitored by the nursing staff and that , after realizing that the old man had fallen from the bed, immediately took action.
Another case, which was reported to OSAK, concerns a complaint from the family of an elderly woman who was hospitalized in a clinic and then died. The family believes that the wrong medication was given to the elderly woman, since the health problem she was dealing with was not detected, as a result of which she died.
The two cases were registered with the OSAK as cases of medical negligence, without this meaning that the families of the patients filed an official complaint with the Police. As he stated speaking to REPORTER OSAK officer Michaela Markou, OSAK does not have the authority to file a medical malpractice complaint but informs patients and their families of their legal rights. “We forward to the authorities the complaints concerning the service of patients in public hospitals, the behavior of the staff towards the patients and issues that may arise during their hospitalization”.
Most complaints against of OAU
However, as every month OSAK proceeds to record the complaints it receives from patients and in January it received a total of forty-four reports, sixteen of which concern services provided by the Health Insurance Organization. Another fourteen complaints concern hospitals, six concern doctors, four the Ministry of Health, one a radiodiagnostic center and three of them concern other issues.
OSAK data is divided into various categories such as access to health services, which recorded twelve reports in January. Eleven complaints related to the conduct/service of medical, nursing, paramedical staff and pharmacists, another ten complaints related to drugs and treatments, five of them related to expenses, four cases of complaints related to issues related to the quality of health services and two related to medical negligence .
Finally, Ms Markou explained that there are cases where patients or their families contact the complaint line for information. “When the complaints concern doctors or hospitals, citizens find it difficult to file a complaint, for fear of being targeted and not receiving the right treatments, however people should know that they can also make complaints anonymously”.
