A TURKISH Cypriot man diagnosed with leukaemia has become the first resident of the occupied areas to receive financial aid from the Cyprus government for an overseas transplant operation, his haematologist at the Makarios Hospital said yesterday.
Dr Nicandros Papaminas said the government had agreed to pay £50,000 so his patient Polat Tomay, who was diagnosed with leukaemia two years ago, could undergo a bone marrow transplant operation in Tel Aviv.
The donor for the transplant is a Greek Cypriot, who has not been named.
Tomay lives in Kyrenia, having moved there from Limassol after the invasion. He has been receiving treatment at the Makarios Hospital in Nicosia since he was diagnosed, even before the partial lifting of restrictions on freedom of movement last April.
Papaminas was yesterday hopeful his patient’s operation would be a success.
“The patient has a very difficult kind of leukaemia. That’s why he needs a transplant. Together we achieved a good remission and then it relapsed, so we had to get permission from the government to send him to Israel for this specialised operation.”
The chemotherapy treatment that Tomay underwent at the Makarios Hospital in 2002 prolonged his life, allowing him extra time to find a matching bone marrow donor.
A Greek Cypriot donor was eventually found by the Karaiskageo foundation, which specialises in finding matching donors for any medical procedure. The foundation has one of the biggest advanced lists in the world.
Tomay’s wife, Nevnihal, had made a televised appeal on CyBC asking for financial aid before she became aware of the government’s plans to finance the operation. The appeal has raised a substantial sum, allowing the family to cover additional costs for the trip, such as travel and accommodation.
A large sum of money was donated by a Greek Cypriot couple, Chrysostomos and Markella Ioannou, who had recognised Polat’s face, as he was treated on the same ward as their son Ericos, who died on Good Friday last year after the failure to find a compatible donor in time.
Polat’s wife thanked the couple for their gesture, saying that with their help her seven-year-old son will grow up with a father.
Papaminas said the government’s response to the case was a positive step for Turkish Cypriots and Cyprus as a whole.
“This is the very first case that a Turkish Cypriot has received financial medical aid for such therapy. It was a decision that was purely on the patient’s medical grounds and not political.”
