Tests conducted in water samples from the public maternity hospital “Elena Venizelou” turned negative for cholera bacteria, the Hellenic Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO) said on Friday.
The tests were ordered after the national union of public hospital workers, POEDIN, claimed that the bacterium had been detected in a hospital warehouse.
“These results are not compatible with the recent faecal contamination of water (sewage water). An additional molecular test is also being carried out to ensure public health, and is expected to be completed next Tuesday,” the center said.
The results of the additional molecular test is expected on Tuesday, October 24.
KEELPNO also called for “responsible behavior” on issues of public health.
Speaking to daily Efimerida Ton Syntakton, KEELPNO officers said that the non-enteropathogenic vibrio found had nothing to do with cholera and it was not dangerous for humans.
The Health Ministry has threatened to refer to justice the Federation of Workers in Public Hospitals (POEDIN). In a statement issued on Thursday health minister Andreas Xanthos and deputy ministry Pavlos Polakis said any “political vagrancy, vulgarity, spreading of fake news, terrorizing the population and creating insecurity towards the public health system.”
“The Health Ministry is obliged to protect the credibility and dignity of the public health system and its people,” the statement underlined.
The war between the Health Ministry and POEDIN is expected to continue.
