The lack of a Cyprus-owned air ambulance sees the health insurance organisation (HIO) spend an approximate €2.6 million per year on external air lifting services, with the majority of the services being provided by Greece.

“At the moment the HIO buys these services from abroad,” the patients association Osak told the Cyprus Mail on Wednesday.

Osak said that according to the most recent figures provided by the HIO, there have been around one hundred cases within the last ten months in which patients needed to be airlifted abroad due to their health condition.

“Most of the cases concern critically ill patients and organ transplants,” Osak said.

According to the association, Cyprus currently depends entirely on services provided by Greece, and to a lesser extent by Israel.

The majority of the cases involve patients with severe health conditions and organ transplants, as well as infants under 30 days of age for whom Cyprus lacks the necessary specialists, with these cases requiring timely intervention which can often be difficult due to the reliance on external services from abroad.

“The current time from the time we receive the call can be up to 15 hours,” Osak said.

Osak referred to a recent case in which a lung cancer patient missed the opportunity to receive a lung transplant abroad due to a lack of available air transport, noting that similar situations could be avoided if Cyprus had its own air ambulance services.

“The need that we have according to new statistics from the HIO is that we need to start with one [air ambulance] and then see further,” Osak said.

The association added that it had long been calling for its own air ambulance, and that in a recent conversation with President Nikos Christodoulides, it had been assured that the matter would be considered in the 2027 budget.