Israeli trip to improve medical tourism

HEALTH MINISTER Stavros Malas is in Israel looking for ways to collaborate with Israeli specialists to enhance medical tourism in Cyprus. 

During his official visit, Malas met with his Israeli counterpart Yakov Litzman and Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz on Sunday in Tel Aviv.

According to an official statement, Malas discussed with Litzman the possibility of establishing cooperation using satellite services between specialised hospitals in Israel and private clinics in Cyprus with the aim of attracting medical tourism to Cyprus. 

“These kind of efforts aim to give additional value to the medical infrastructure of Cyprus,” said Malas.

During his meeting with Hershkowitz, the Cypriot minister outlined the priorities of the Cypriot EU Presidency in the field of research. Malas will chair the Competition Council during the EU Presidency in the second half of 2012.

Prospects for cooperation between the two countries in the field of high technology were also examined. Malas highlighted that Israeli high tech industries could invest in Cyprus, giving them the opportunity to access the wider region, with emphasis on the Arab world and the European market, provided they could benefit from the EU’s body of rules covering the single market, known as the acquis communautaire.

The Cypriot health minister also visited hospitals and medical centres, accompanied by representatives of Cypriot private clinics, commercial bodies and the employers’ and industrialists’ organisation. 

During his stay, Malas also visited Cypriot national Christodoulos Antoniou, who is being treated in Israel following multiple injuries sustained during the Mari naval base explosion last July. 

The minister was briefed by doctors about his path to recovery which they noted was going well. 

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.