Planned expansion and upgrade works at the neonatal intensive care unit of Makarios hospital have been pushed back by about six months, enraged MPs heard on Thursday.

Lawmakers were also irked by the fact that none of the senior leadership of Okypy (the state health services organisation) showed up at the House health committee despite being summoned.

None of the contractors for the works turned up either.

Instead it was left to Christos Mina, the scientific director of Okypy, to appear and let MPs know that the expansion/upgrade project has been delayed by six months.

Speaking to the media later, committee chair Efthymios Diplaros recalled that on January 20 of this year Okypy had announced the works would have been finished within six months.

He said the committee would send a “stern” letter to Okypy over their no-show on Thursday, and also demand that they provide a definitive timetable for the project.

The committee will reconvene on the same issue, again summoning the leadership of Okypy.

Diplaros said the discussion about the status of the neonatal unit was sparked by complaints from the Miracle Babies NGO – a lead sponsor of the project.

For her part, Akel MP Marina Nicolaou said they repeatedly asked for a timetable on the completion of the works, but got nothing.

She also spoke on staffing problems at the neonatal unit.

“Despite an agreement between Okypy and the trade unions representing the healthcare workers, to staff the unit with 90 people, at the moment only 79 people work there, even though the unit is constantly packed with patients, with whatever that entails about the care given to babies and the exhaustion of the personnel.”

On another topic, journalists asked MPs about the buyout of two healthcare centres by two foreign hedge funds. The two facilities in question are in Limassol and in Paphos.

According to Diplaros, this development is “concerning”. The Commission for the Protection of Competition should look at the issue, he added.