Complaint filed against nurse who allegedly locked patient in cupboard

An official complaint has been filed to police on Friday by state health services organisation (Okypy), after a woman complained that a nurse had locked her husband in a hospital cupboard for seven hours earlier in the week.

The issue emerged on Thursday, when the woman went on record on live TV to complain about the incident.

Speaking on Friday, Okypy spokesman Pambos Charilaou said that the organisation’s investigation into the matter completed on Thursday night.

Speaking on live TV on Thursday, the wife of the man, Maro Georgiou, said that her husband had gone to Nicosia General for a hip surgery on Monday. The next day, she added, a nurse came and told her husband that he needed a blood transfusion.

When asking the nurse why the transfusion was needed, the nurse told him that it was doctor’s orders. Accepting this premise, the man consented to being given blood.

While receiving blood, the man complained that it was dripping off his hand and onto the bed, staining it, so he called the nurse for help.

“As soon as the nurse arrived, he [the nurse] pulled out the intravenous line and attempted to move the bed,” Georgiou said.

The patient then asked where he was being taken, to have the nurse say that he is being taken to intensive care for monitoring.

The nurse instead took the man to storage cupboard and left him there for seven hours from 11.30pm until 6am, just before the shift change.

Commenting further on Friday, Charilaou said that Okypy’s investigation was completed and that the board of the organisation will examine the case, while also a complaint had been filed with police about the incident.

Police said that the investigation is in full swing, and officers are taking testimony from witnesses.

The nurse is also expected to be called in for questioning, and he has been suspended from his duties.