A TOTAL UPGRADE of the medical services currently available to patients with eating disorders on the island is an absolute necessity said Health Minister Christos Patsalides yesterday.
“Anorexia and bulimia have both taken on worrying proportions here on the island in the past few years,” said Patsalides. “The problem is a serious one, especially because it most often affects very young people who can really spiral out of control. In the worst cases the body can totally shut down even resulting in death.”
While eating disorders currently affect 1 per cent of our island’s teenage population, the subject still remains very much taboo within social circles and the public sphere as a whole. Official recorded numbers of course only shed light on cases that have received treatment.
It was further pointed out that the numbers of sufferers here on the island in relation to population are on par with those of our European counterparts. The Health Ministry now report that there are at least 20 cases of severely ill adolescents treated by the public health sector each year.
“The problem is that we live in a society that places emphasis on fashionable ideals that often leads to unorthodox diets and even total starvation,” explained Patsalides. “Unfortunately many young people today have come to follow wrong prototypes. We now want to place greater emphasis on prevention and treatment of the problem. Early diagnosis is an absolute must.”
As things stand, the most severe sufferers that go along to see local doctors usually have to be sent abroad for intensive specialised treatment that is not available in Cyprus as yet.
While treatment is usually undertaken in England or Greece, families often have to pack up their things for a good few months as they go along to stand by their kids undergoing treatment.
“Our immediate plans now include opening up a specialised centre to deal with this problem without patients having to be sent abroad. While the Health Ministry is now working closely with specialists and centres abroad, many of our doctors are being sent away for specialised training. This will not only lessen the burden on patients and their families, but it will also improve and raise the standard of our health system as a whole,” Patsalides said.
Within the next year there will be a special unit opening within the Makarios Hospital in Nicosia to deal with all eating disorders.
Now aiming to enlighten the public about the dangers of anorexia, bulimia and binge eating, the Ministry of Health along with the Education Ministry are working together closely for the subject to given attention in schools.
“Young people need to be informed about just how dangerous meddling with what you eat can be,” said Patsalides.
June Millett, wife of British High Commissioner, Peter Millett, has also co-operated with the two ministries, now having helped bring prominent speakers from the UK to the island in hope of shedding more light on the matter.
“Patients follow certain obsessive patterns and classing eating disorders as a proper illness and not simply a fad has made a huge difference in the way people have come to deal with it,” said Millet. “In the recent past most people had no sympathy for anyone with an eating disorder and showed little understanding towards those who were ill.”
Talks and lectures commence this morning at the Holiday Inn in Nicosia. Open to doctors, patients and parents, the series of events includes talks by professionals from Kings College, London. A special talk specifically for parents and carers will be given at 4pm today by Professor Olivia Gill.
Tomorrow afternoon at 4pm there will be an extra talk given at the Central Building at the University of Cyprus with Janet Treasure, psychiatrist and researcher for the British Psychological Society. The talk will focus on new developments in the biological understanding of eating disorders and relevant treatments.
For more info and a full schedule of talks contact June Millet on 99- 521195
