Palliative care centre for cancer patients inaugurated

The creation of a palliative care centre has long been a vision and a strategy of Pasykaf, its director of medical services Dr Kyriacos Stylianides said on Tuesday at the inauguration of the renovated Pasykaf-Eden palliative care centre in Tersefanou.

The facility has been in operation since November 2022 at the premises of the former Eden rehabilitation centre in Tersefanou.

Funded by the Cyprus Association of Cancer Patients and Friends (Pasykaf) and a private company, it offers specialist services to cancer patients at several stages of the disease.

“This new collaboration between Pasykaf and the facility adds 11 more beds for our fellow humans suffering from cancer, for whom these important, specialist services are beyond precious,” House president Annita Demetriou, who inaugurated the facility, said.

“The centre we are inaugurating today is added to this network of care, which puts emphasis on the wide-reaching support and holistic approach that all patients need,” she added, saying that research has shown that patients who receive palliative care have improved therapeutic effects and quality of life.

The centre offers a luxurious and welcoming environment, offering free medical rehabilitation services, through national health scheme Gesy and specialised treatments and care for cancer patients, in collaboration with Gesy operator Health Insurance Organisation (HIO), the facility’s deputy general director Dr Anna Zoirou said.

She added that the medical centre is staffed with fully qualified medical and nursing staff, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, dieticians, social workers and psychologists.

In terms of facilities, it offers a heated therapeutic pool and complete physiotherapy and occupational therapy equipment for all cases of neurological, musculoskeletal, cardiac and respiratory diseases as well as cases of amputations, paraplegia and quadriplegia.

The House president pledged unlimited support for everyone battling cancer, reiterating parliament’s commitment to institutionally supporting and strengthening the “important and worthy work of all non-profit and voluntary organisations, such as Pasykaf”.

The state, she said, must prioritise the continuous improvement of medical services by promoting the establishment and support of medical centres that will provide specialised, high-quality services to patients, “such as the one we are inaugurating today”.

Any contribution to our fellow man is self-evident, health ministry permanent secretary Christina Yiannaki said.

She congratulated Pasykaf for its continuous and impactful contribution to the fight against cancer, saying that “we will do everything in our power to help in these efforts, to continue this noble contribution to humanity, because at the end of the tunnel, there is humanity”.

Stylianides said the vision for a palliative care centre “became a reality because both the House of Representatives and the ministry of health, in collaboration with the HIO, believed in and supported the institution of palliative care,” he added.

He added that everyone’s support was necessary for the centre to join Gesy, so that cancer patients can enjoy these services completely free of charge.

“Our effort is to improve the quality of life of our patients, at whatever stage of the disease they are in, and we can achieve this when there is good and close cooperation not only with oncology centres but also with private and public hospitals,” he concluded.