Minister wants to see Limassol radiology centre but can’t give timeframe

Health minister George Pamporidis on Wednesday expressed the government’s willingness to speed up procedures for the establishment of a radiology centre in Limassol but could not provide any timeframes.

Speaking at a meeting organised by Limassol district mayors, Pamporidis said that he could not talk “big words” but expressed hope that his ministry would soon proceed with announcements  on the issue which has a sore point for years among patients from the Limassol and Paphos districts. Due to the lack of a radiology centre, patients from these two districts have to travel to Nicosia for treatment.

Pamporidis said that this issue was a priority for the government. He added that President Nicos Anastasiades asked to be personally informed on the results of a relevant study and “I hope that we will soon be in position to make specific announcements”.

In November, the House human rights committee had slammed the government for failing to provide a comprehensive cancer care system particularly for patients in Limassol and Paphos. They also spoke of a possible breach of cancer patients’ rights, and said that the government’s plans to create a radiology centre in Limassol by 2018, was not soon enough.

Pamporidis, who could not commit to a timeframe, said that the radiology centre falls within the wider national plan against cancer and the meeting was mainly focused on the speeding up of the operation of a radiotherapy centre “to serve residents of the Limassol and Paphos areas”.

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