The Council of Ministers on Wednesday approved the new national blood strategy aimed at modernising and upgrading the blood services system in Cyprus.

“With the approval of the strategy, we are proceeding with the creation of a modern, digitalised and resilient system that will ensure the adequacy, quality and safety of blood and its derivatives, in accordance with European and international standards,” Health Minister Neophytos Charalambides said after the cabinet meeting.

The strategy is built on five core axes. These concern the management of blood stocks and needs, the organisation of services, quality and supervision, innovation and digitalisation and haemovigilance, a set of surveillance procedures covering the entire transfusion chain.

The implementation of the strategy will be overseen by an implementation monitoring committee which is responsible for the evaluation of its progress and effectiveness, as well as the identification of possible difficulties.

The committee will be formed by representatives of the health ministry, the blood centre, the blood banks, the state health organisation (Okypy), the Cyprus association of private hospitals, the Cyprus hematology society and the Cyprus federation of patients’ associations.