There is “no suspicion of disciplinary misconduct” regarding any public servant over the flooding of a drug storage warehouse last year, a report into the matter found.

The report, which was brought to light by newspaper Politis on Friday, instead focused on potential missteps made at an institutional level by the health insurers’ organisation (HIO) and the state health services organisation (Okypy).

It wrote that the issue of the suitability or otherwise of the drug storage warehouse had first been raised in 2016, with Politis highlighting that the pharmaceutical services had penned a letter in 2019 highlighting the facility’s inadequacy.

The pharmaceutical services had written that the facility was “messy”, that there were cracks in the roof of the building which allowed water to seep through, that there was no temperature measurement system, that its insect traps did not work, and that the staff had not received proper training, among other deficiencies.

Additionally, a separate letter was sent on February 16 last year – just 30 days before the flood occurred – pointing out that the facility did not “meet the specifications provided for by European legislation for pharmaceutical warehouses”.

The report also found that it is “not possible to immediately find a new place to house the warehouse” to store Cyprus’ drug supply, and that as such, works must be carried out to repair the building’s deficiencies as best as possible.

According to Politis, these works include €390,000 worth of repairs to its roof, with €234,000 of that being covered by the health ministry.

Health Minister Michael Damianos confirmed that he has received the report and forwarded it on to auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou and to the House health committee.

Later on Friday, he told the Cyprus News Agency that a tender is underway to either rent or build new warehouses to store drugs.

However, he said, finding a new premises may not be easy, as the quantity of medicine stored at the current location is “large”.

“It seems that there are no spaces in Cyprus which are suitable for pharmaceutical warehouse. A tender was announced again, and it is ongoing, for the rental or construction of new warehouses, so that we can move,” he said.

He said Okypy plans to move its own drugs supply to its own facility in September, leaving only the ministry and the HIO storing drugs at the warehouse

Additionally, he drew attention to the fact that neither the HIO nor Okypy had taken out insurance on the drugs stored in the warehouse, and that as such, their destruction meant the government had to foot the bill for their replacement.

A total of €880,000 worth of medicine was destroyed when the warehouse was flooded in March last year.

It was initially feared that the flood may cause drug shortages, though Damianos at the time was swift to play those fears down.

“The ministry has the mechanisms both locally and internationally to ensure the supply of medicine,” he said at the time.

Later, a multi-page report was submitted to Damianos after it emerged that the current premises were leased by his ministry to a private contractor for €6,600 per year, and then re-leased back to his ministry for €135,000 per year – a markup of more than 2,000 per cent.