Christofias returns after transplant operation

AKEL LEADER Demetris Christofias yesterday returned to the island following his successful kidney transplant operation in London.

Christofias underwent the transplant at St. Mary’s clinic early last month, receiving the life-saving organ from his sister Despina. The opposition left-wing party leader was given a warm reception by friends, family and party members as he arrived at Larnaca airport yesterday afternoon.

The operation has been pronounced a success, but the 52-year-old veteran politician’s return from London was nonetheless delayed by a couple of weeks at the request of his doctor.

In March, Christofias underwent open heart surgery in preparation for the transplant, again at St. Mary’s hospital.

The transplant was deemed necessary after Christofias suffered kidney damage during treatment for bronchial pneumonia in Cyprus last winter.

But the kidney transplant has not been without controversy, with local doctors insisting the operation could just as well have been carried out in Cyprus. The fact that tax-payers footed the bill for Christofias’s treatment in London has added to the contentiousness of the Akel leader’s choice of hospital.

The head of the Nicosia Paraskevaidion Surgical and Transplant Centre, Dr George Kyriakides, said his clinic routinely carried out such operations — and could easily have done so for Christofias.

Christofias’ personal physician Dr Michaelis Minas, however, said that the party leader’s trip to London had been approved by the Medical Council, due to Christofias’ medical history.

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.