Landmark Agreement

The technical agreement signed between the Makarios Hospital and the internationally-known medical centre King’s College Hospital has been characterised as a landmark agreement by the Minister of Health, Phillipos Patsalis. He told a press conference that the agreement institutionalises, for the first time in the medical history of Cyprus, a systematic collaboration between the Paediatric Liver, Gastroenterology and Nutrition Centre at the Makarios Hospital with the corresponding centre at King’s College Hospital. As a result of this development, the Paediatric Centre in Engomi will be called the Paediatric Liver Centre, Gastroenterology and Nutrition NAM III of Nicosia and King’s College Hospital. Dr Patsalis underlined that the agreement is the work of his predecessors in the ministry, Dr Stavros Malas and Dr Petros Petrides, whom he thanked for their enormous contribution to the establishment and institutionalisation of the agreement. The minister said the signing of the technical agreement will lead to the operation of a clinic and a common reference point for the care of patients with chronic gastroenterology and hepatitis diseases in the public and private sector. This will: a) save significant funds from the state budget spent on some 250 paediatric patients with paying for patients with complicated hepatitis and gastrointestinal diseases to undergo examination and treatment abroad and b) continue visits of Dr Alastair Baker and Babu Vadamalayan for the examination of Cypriot patients. Additionally, the agreement will: a) enable endoscopy examinations on paediatric patients to be carried out in Cyprus, b) apply the same medical protocols and the same practices for the care of patients at the corresponding clinics of King’s College Hospital. Implementation will be supervised by King’s College Hospital. Moreover, the economic support and technical assistance engineers of Hellas Sat, said Patsalis, has developed a specific telemedicine system, which has been installed at the Paediatric Liver Centre and facilitates a systematic and daily exchange of medical data between both hospitals for the efficient and direct care of Cypriots patients. “We must, therefore, say a very big thank you to the association “Children with liver diseases Giorgos Psaras – Round Table” for the donation of the equipment whose value amounts to €100,000.” Particular reference was made by the Minister of Health to paediatrician Dr Panayiota Protopapas and Dr Alastair Baker, who pioneered and “materialised ​​the vision of patients in Cyprus.”