MPs' claims that a Bahrain maternity hospital was not fit enough to deliver animals, let alone babies, were denied by the Health Ministry yesterday.It claimed in a statement that although the Sitra Maternity Hospital was old, it was still up to the mark.

"The ministry's planning department has decided there is no use spending a large amount of money on the hospital to renovate it because there are not enough patients visiting it," said Jidhafs and rural maternity hospitals' administrator Ali Saleh."If the MPs say the hospital is dirty and unhygienic, that is not true.

"It might be a 50-year-old facility, but it is still very good."There are no doctors there, but the experienced staff is present at all times who can decide upon if a patient needs to be transferred to another hospital." He said only 30 deliveries take place every year at the facility. "We can handle more but people prefer to go elsewhere," he said."We are convinced even if we renovate, the number of patients will not increase, so there is no point in investing if we can use that money to modernise our other facilities." He urged people to visit the maternity hospital to judge by themselves."It is neat and clean and hygienic," he said. "It is not an animal shelter." Meanwhile, the Health Ministry yesterday dismissed claims that pictures of a young patient left lying on the floor was at a hospital in Bahrain.The email, which has been circulating in the last 24 hours, claims swine flu patients are being treated "in isolation" on the floor in hospital corridors because there is no isolation rooms available.The pictures accompanying the email show a young girl, wrapped in a soiled blanket, lying on the hospital floor."These pictures are not from Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) and not even from Bahrain," said ministry public and international relations director Adel Ali Abdulla.<"This is mischievous, to say the least," he said. "Anyone who knows anything about SMC would know that this is not that hospital. It is nowhere in Bahrain. One look at the pictures will prove that." He said, however, those who launched the email were creating panic and ministry officials received scores of calls asking for answers.

"We have thought it proper to come out with a denial, rather than let it die a natural death," said Mr Abdulla.

"This is extremely harmful, especially if people outside Bahrain see it."