Theodosis Tsiola attended the presentation ceremony of the new buildings of the Center of the Pancyprian Association of Cancer Patients and Friends in Nicosia. In his greeting he mentioned that this is a great, primarily social, vision, which focuses on the suffering fellow human being, begins to take on flesh and blood and to be targeted by the plan in its realization.
See his greeting as it is:
It is with great pleasure that I attend tonight (31/1) the presentation ceremony of the new buildings of the Center of the Pancyprian Association of Cancer Patients and Friends in Nicosia. A great, primarily social, vision, which focuses on the suffering fellow human being, begins to take on flesh and blood and to be targeted by the plan in its realization.
The Center, perfectly adapted to European and American standards, will fully meet the needs of patients and their families, providing decent and supportive treatment conditions for every stage of their illness.
The Pancyprian Association of Cancer Patients and Friends has been counting since 1986, 36 whole years of uninterrupted voluntary action, support and offering to our fellow human beings, who give daily the great battle for the treatment of cancer.
Initially the small group of people, inspirers and founders of PASYKAF, driven by philanthropic feelings of love and devotion for those suffering from cancer, but mainly knowing well through personal experiences the needs and problems of patients soon managed to turn it into a large organization, with thousands of members and supporters.
All these years, a substantial effort is made, which focuses on the provision of professional health services, palliative care, as well as the operation of prevention programs.
This evolutionary upward course of PASYKAF with the assistance and mobilization of the scientific community contributed significantly to the change of mentality in the social stereotypes around the practical and holistic treatment of cancer.
The need to create a privately owned Center, which will house permanent staff, scientific and specialized associates and patients and which will provide high quality infrastructure, has always been an ambitious goal, but perfectly legitimate, for the members of the organization.
Recognizing the beneficial and functional advantages of such a Center for every patient with cancer experience, the Government willingly sided with them from the beginning, leasing, by Decision of the Council of Ministers in 2019, state land in the parish of Agios Dimitrios in the Municipality of Strovolos. In addition, it supports and financially supports the efforts of the Organization at every opportunity, while the recent Decision taken by the Council of Ministers for the establishment and appointment of a National Cancer Committee should be considered a milestone in the medical events of the place. The primary goal of the whole project is the implementation of an action plan through a National Strategy for rational treatment of Cancer in conditions that will allow the best possible help to patients from early prevention to treatment and palliative care.
Through today's ceremony, PASYKAF expresses its special thanks to all those who expressed their interest and participated in the Architectural Competition, which was announced for the construction of its Center, submitting their drafts and studies.
Today, in the context of the presentation of the architectural plans of the Center, the competent Jury commends all the entries and awards the first three prizes and the commendation, which it unanimously concluded, to the Architects Joachim-Loizas with collaborators Despina Al-Patnichos, and Prokopis Pattichis, to Panagiotis Panagis and Sofronis Markou, to Alexandros Livadas and to Pavlos Feraios.
Also, today's event is an opportunity to publicly address the warm thanks to the sponsor of the Architectural Competition, the Costas Papaellinas Organization - Pharmaceutical Organization of Cyprus, but also to all the sponsors of PASYKAF, who all these years generously support his diverse and humanitarian work.
I take this opportunity to express on behalf of the Government warm congratulations to the participants of this Competition and especially to those who excelled. I, in turn, express my warm congratulations to the sponsors of this action, which proves that the partnership and cooperation of public and private bodies only bring benefits to society as a whole. At this point, let me state with absolute certainty that the Government will continue to respond with understanding, sensitivity and solidarity to the difficult struggle for holistic treatment of cancer and the upgrading of conditions in the services provided in our country.
In conclusion, I would like to wish from the bottom of my heart every success to the Board of Directors of PASYKAF and to the endless efforts it makes, so that our fellow human beings who are battling cancer do not feel for a moment that they are fighting alone, but above all to continue walking in a a supportive environment in which hope and love are paramount.