The scandal-hit Glasgow health board must be put into special measures, Anas Sarwar has demanded, following an alleged cover-up of Milly Main's death.

The 10-year-old girl was in remission from leukaemia before contracting a fatal infection while in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH).

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) have said that they were not obliged to test for bloodstream infection Stenotrophomonas - listed as a possible cause on the child's death certificate - at the time of Milly's death and could therefore not determine whether the infection was linked to their water supply.

However, Milly's mother has said she is "100%" certain contaminated water caused the infection and told the BBC she feels "let down" and "lied to" in the wake of her daughter's death.

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Scottish Labour MSP Mr Sarwar has now said the health board must be put into "special measures", accusing it of "threatening and intimidating" the whistleblower who claimed that Milly's death was caused by contaminated water at the QEUH in 2017.

Mr Sarwar raised the whistleblower's claims that a doctor-led investigation uncovered a further 26 cases of Stenotrophomonas in child cancer patients at the hospital - in addition to the 23 found by an official investigation - with the First Minister and Health Secretary, and has now called on the government to act.

Describing NHSGGC as "not fit for purpose", Mr Sarwar said: "The Glasgow health board has unforgivably let down patients and staff.

"There was an attempted cover-up of Milly's death, and there are still dozens of families who don't know the truth about infections contracted in the QUEH.

"This only came to light following the brave actions of an NHS whistleblower.

"But rather than seek answers for patients and the public, the health board has resorted to attacking the whistleblower, threatening and intimidating them.

"This is a clear attempt to silence staff from speaking out, and prevent the truth being heard by the public.

"Who is signing off these insulting statements being issued by the health board and are they being cleared by the Health Secretary?

"The Scottish Government must now step in and put the health board into special measures, so that ministers take control, staff can speak out in confidence they will not lose their jobs, and - most importantly - parents can learn the truth.

READ MORE: Calls for public inquiry after scandals at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital

"NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is not fit for purpose."

The cover-up allegations have led to calls for Health Secretary Jeane Freeman to resign.

In a statement on Friday, Ms Freeman said that three days after she announced an inquiry into infection at the hospital on September 17, a parent contacted her to tell her of their child's death after treatment at QEUH in 2017.

She said she wrote back on October 23 expressing condolences, saying she had asked senior NHSGGC staff to contact the parent and checked later this had been done.

Ms Freeman added: "I am at all times aware of the importance of patient confidentiality and so rightly, I believe, I did not treat this correspondence as a public matter.

"The ward in which the child concerned in the correspondence I received on 20 September, 2A/2B, was closed and undergoing remedial and upgrading work.

"Any suggestion that children were at risk after I received this information is therefore incorrect."

A NHSGGC spokeswoman said: “We are sorry for any distress and anxiety being caused to families at this time.

“The sole purpose of our communications is to tell the facts. The truth is there is no way to know whether Milly’s infection was linked to the water supply as we did not consider this to be the source at the time and we did not test for the particular infection in the water supply.

“A potential link between infections and the water supply only emerged the following year and this was confirmed earlier this year when Health Protection Scotland published their report on their investigations. We acted on this report and put in place extensive measures to improve the water supply, which is safe.

“We are absolutely committed to providing patients and families with information and ensuring they get answers to the questions they have; it is really important that we base these answers on the facts. We are working with Professor Craig White who has been appointed by the Cabinet Secretary to provide support for families.

“We always have to take care when discussing our patients not to breach their rights to confidentiality.  This can make it difficult to discuss in detail individual cases but we wish to make clear that we are taking these matters extremely seriously.”