The Miracle Babies association on Monday called for the urgent intervention by the auditor-general and deputy minister to the President over the expansion and upgrade of the neonatal intensive care unit at Makarios hospital.

The association’s lawyer, Christos M Triantafyllidis, requested an immediate meeting with Auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou and state health services organisation (Okypy) representatives to finalise the contract award. He described the auditor-general’s involvement as “absolutely necessary” to ensure the project proceeds legally and without delay.

Miracle Babies had last week strongly condemned delays in expanding and renovating the neonatal intensive care unit at Makarios Hospital, criticizing the “unacceptable attitude and actions” of the Okypy.

The €6,549 million-plus-VAT project was scheduled to start on January 20 and take 18 months, adding 26 new incubators, including four isolation wards and intermediate care units, to meet approved standards.

However, on October 2, Okypy said completion would be pushed back to the end of 2027, contradicting earlier promises by Okypy’s executive director, Kypros Stavrides, who assured immediate and rapid progress.

The association called these earlier assurances “an illusory dream for premature babies and their families.”

In a separate letter to deputy minister Irene Piki, Triantafyllides called for a joint meeting with the association and Okypy to identify the “fastest and best way to promote and complete the project.” Triantafyllidis noted the deputy minister’s intervention “may have decisive significance.”

Despite signing a contract for development at the unit in December 2023, no work has commenced in the 19 months since.

Miracle Babies emphasised this is not just bureaucratic inertia but a matter of life and death for the most vulnerable newborns. “We are their voice,” the association said, “and we will continue to demand the care premature infants and their families urgently deserve.”

Okypy spokesman Charalambos Charilaou said on Saturday, “we did what we had to do,” describing the contract as both “problematic” and “at a dead end.”

He dismissed claims that the delay endangers newborns, stressing that the current unit is staffed with “the best” personnel and equipped with “the best” technology, with the only issue being limited space.

Charilaou added that the contract was terminated “with the consent of the contractor,” meaning no legal action would follow.

Okypy recovered €1.3 million in guarantees and is now seeking a new contractor. The upcoming contract is expected to be worth €6.4 million, the same as the previous agreement.