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Water issues linked to infections in patients who died at one of Scotland’s flagship hospitals “is the most appalling and disgusting hospital scandal to engulf” the NHS, an MSP has said.

Dr Sandesh Gulhane hit out at the “unforgiveable cover-up” he said led to the deaths of cancer patients, including two children.

Speaking in the chamber, the Tory MSP said the Health Secretary had to be “dragged” following the health board’s admission, following years of denial, that its water system was likely linked to infections at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

Dr Gulhane told Neil Gray: “The unforgivable cover-up of infected water leading to the unnecessary deaths of cancer patients, including two children, is the most appalling and disgusting hospital scandal to engulf our health service.

“After over a decade of denial we have had to drag the Health Secretary here today after NHS Glasgow admitted at the 11th hour in the most sleekit way that the water system and the Queen Elizabeth caused infections in cancer patients.”

Dr Gulhane said multiple hospital inspections as early as 2015 “exposed the fact that water at the hospital was not safe and there was a high risk of subsequent infection”.

He went on: “NHS Glasgow have spent years covering it up, silencing whistleblowers, gaslighting families and betraying the trust of patients.

“The calculated attempts at hiding the truth have denied the victims’ families closure.

“How many more times must we say, never again before this culture of secrecy and cover-up ends?”

He said issues with the water supply had not been solved and that a whistleblower had contacted him on Tuesday to say the pressure was “so bad” the dishwashers had been turned off for months, while taps stop running water monthly.

He added: “It is time for honesty, transparency and accountability, and it should not have taken a public inquiry to get here.

“For over a decade successive SNP health secretaries have presided over a culture of secrecy and cover-up at the expense of patients.

“SNP ministers must take responsibility for this scandal.”

Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, said at the time of the hospital’s opening that Nicola Sturgeon was first minister, Shona Robison was health secretary and John Swinney was the finance minister, adding: “Their fingerprints are all over this.”

“We need to know what they knew, when they knew it and exactly who pressured the health board to open the hospital before it was safe, causing the death of children,” she told Parliament.

The Health Secretary offered his “biggest condolences” to the families impacted by the infection issues at the hospital and said ministers took concerns about patient safety seriously.

But he said it would be inappropriate to comment on the revelations from the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry while it is ongoing.

He added: “It is because we have instigated the public inquiry that I believe we are getting to the truth and I think it is important we allow the public inquiry the space to consider its final conclusions, and for the final report to be considered, before we determine any final considerations.

“I am duty-bound as a minister. There are very strict rules around seeking to influence or comment on or pre-empt public inquiries to do that, and I think it would be the best for Parliament to do likewise.”

On Monday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called for a criminal investigation into the senior managers at the board, as well as former government ministers, including Ms Sturgeon.

A key report on the state of water at the hospital, completed one week before it was due to open, suggested that infections could be caused by the water system on the campus, but the decision was made to open regardless.

Mr Sarwar said “many ministers within the government” excluding former health secretary Jeane Freeman, he stressed including Ms Sturgeon “lied” about the issue.

“I think that this is the biggest scandal in the history of the Scottish Parliament,” he added.