Doctors of the World look to new missions

CYPRIOT representatives of the Doctors of the World mission yesterday announced further plans to help the victims of the tsunami in south-east Asia.

Speaking at a news conference yesterday, the chairman of the organisation Dr Elias Papadopoulos gave full accounts of what has been done so far while announcing more excursions are planned for the region with even more supplies and doctors. The team leader this time will be Dr Giorgos Demetriou.

Doctors also answered questions on the recent complaints made by one of the volunteers from the most recent mission who accused the organisers in Cyprus of being unprofessional and not showing enough interest in the mission itself.

Papadopoulos expressed hope that the next mission would be more longer around while another representative, Marios Poullikas, said that medical supplies are being continuously sent to the region.

Poullikas said Cypriot families have been contributing very generously towards the orphaned children in Sri Lanka through the organisation.

Separate excursions are also being planned by the local contingent to victims in the Seychelles and Maldives.

“We have also offered financial aid to two of the hospitals in the region, which the government of Sri Lanka gratefully accepted. The new hospitals will be named ‘Doctors of the World – Cyprus’.” Poullikas said.

“I would also like to mention the donation of the Michael family who donated money gathered at the funeral of their two children (who were recently lost in a tragic car accident).

“One of the hospitals we are aiding in Sri Lanka will be dedicating a plaque to the memory of Argyro and Vassilis Michael.”

Dr Papadopoulos said that the £70,000 raised has helped fund the mission to Sri Lanka as well as the transportation of medical supplies to the area.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.