Labour minister remains in critical condition after surgery (update 3)

Labour minister Zeta Emilianidou remains in critical condition in an Athens hospital after lengthy surgery to treat a cerebral aneurysm, the health ministry said on Monday.

In a brief announcement Monday afternoon, the ministry said Emilianidou had now been admitted to ICU after surgery to supress the aneurysm.

“Her condition is considered critical and will be reassessed in the coming days,” the ministry said.

Emilianidou, 67, suffered a cerebral aneurysm on Sunday night and was transported by air-ambulance to a hospital in Athens, the government announced early on Monday.

A statement from the government spokesman’s office said Emilianidou was initially admitted to a private hospital in Nicosia and then due to the seriousness of her condition was transferred to a hospital in Athens.

The president was informed from the first moment. Anastasiades later tweeted, wishing the minister a speedy recovery.

The health ministry said that on Sunday night the minister was suffering from severe headaches and was taken immediately to a private clinic where her condition was diagnosed.

“After coordinated efforts by the minister of health and the ministry’s director general, Ms Emilianidou was transported urgently by air-ambulance to a specialised medical centre in Greece… ” the ministry said.  Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas travelled to Athens with her.

Reports later in the morning said Emilianidou had initially been rushed to the American Medical Centre in Nicosia whose director Marinos Sotiriou told Cyprus Times that when she left for Athens on as special flight the minister was still conscious.

He said she had been plagued by headaches from Sunday afternoon, and was diagnosed with an aneurysm leading to some bleeding on the brain.

“When she left us, she was awake and okay,” he said. “Then her condition worsened during the transport and she fell into a coma. We do not know how much bleeding she had [by then],” he told the Cyprus Times.

Asked why the surgery was being performed in Athens and not in Cyprus, he said her condition required a specialist doctor and there was none available on the island.

Emilianidou, who has served as labour minister since April 2013 as an independent, was to give a joint news conference on Monday with President Nicos Anastasiades on the welfare state. It did not go ahead without her.

Well wishes began pouring in for the minister’s recovery shortly after the news broke of her hospitalisation.

Political parties, employers organisations, unions and the medical association all issued statements wishing the minister a speedy recovery.