Dozens of people gathered outside Limassol General Hospital on Monday morning, demanding a full investigation into the circumstances that led to 4-year-old Marios being hospitalised brain dead, responding to a call from his family.
In a deeply emotional atmosphere, those present expressed their support for the child’s parents and demanded answers over possible errors or omissions in his treatment. His mother delivered a clear message: “I will see this through to the end. There is responsibility, and I won’t wait for it to go unassigned.”
Participants held banners with messages of protest and support for the family. Among them were the words: “A little angel was asking for help. Murderers, why did you leave him without help?” and “7 days in room 1 – 7 days I was shouting without being heard.”
“The only thing I ask for is justice”
Visibly devastated, Marios’s mother appealed to the state to investigate the case and assign responsibility wherever it lies. “It’s not possible for a baby with meningitis to develop swelling, become trapped by it, and all you do is give him antipyretics,” she said, describing what she says happened before the child was transferred to Makarios Hospital.
The mother said the child was transferred to Makarios Hospital on July 13, and the family was told his condition was good, but that the picture had changed dramatically by the next day. “They told me on the 14th that my baby would remain blind. In front of the baby himself. In the end, they got that wrong too. My baby didn’t remain blind, he remained brain dead,” she said in tears.
She said she could have accepted even a serious disability, if it meant her child would have remained close to her. “I would have accepted him remaining blind, because I would have had him with me. I would have become his eyes. But my baby didn’t remain blind. He remained brain dead,” she said.
Closing her statement, the mother made clear she will pursue her fight for a full investigation into the case, calling on the state to assign whatever responsibility may arise. “The only thing this state has to do is deliver justice. This time, with humanity and a hand on the heart, for a soul that was lost, and for others who may have been lost, or may be suffering, without the strength to come forward and speak. I will see this through to the end. There is responsibility, and I won’t wait for it to go unassigned,” she said.
SHSO investigating
The State Health Services Organisation (SHSO), on July 28, had said that it begun investigating the case after the mother’s public statements, in order to establish the facts. The child was first taken by his parents to Limassol General Hospital before being transferred to Makarios Hospital in Nicosia after his condition worsened.
SHSO expressed its sympathy to the child’s family and said every such report is treated with due seriousness, responsibility and objectivity, in line with established procedures.
