As a state, "it is our imperative duty to be alert and to do the right thing in order to constantly improve the services we provide to our chronic patients", said the Minister of Health Michalis Damianos, speaking on Tuesday at a press conference in Nicosia, which he organized the National Thalassemia Committee, on the occasion of the delivery of the Committee's actions on the year 2024.
He also said that "the primary objective of the mandate of the National Thalassemia Committee was to draw up a structured and clearly defined objectives and actions National Strategy for Thalassemia and Other Hemoglobin Diseases, which did not exist until recently in Cyprus, despite our long and successful tradition in control and treatment of Thalassemia".
The National Strategy, continued the Minister of Health, is now the basic policy text that directs the Commission's actions and initiatives and is based on five pillars concerning issues of population control and prevention, clinical management of patients, social welfare, promotion of research and the upgrading of the Thalassemia Center into a European and international Reference Center, primarily for the benefit of the sufferers but also of the wider society.
The Committee, whose extensive activity also covers Thalassemia and other Hemoglobin Diseases, such as Sickle Cell Disease, is charged with formulating suggestions and recommendations on a regular basis to the Ministry of Health for the upgrading of medical services, where deemed necessary, but also with a wide range of other provisions such as doctor and patient education, public awareness and information, etc., and has already implemented a a significant number of related actions, added Mr. Dame.
He referred to the initiative of the Ministry of Health for the establishment of the National Thalassemia Committee, saying that it was a very important step to further improve the quality of life of people with Thalassemia and Other Hemoglobin Diseases living in our country, and said that the chronic, and in particular the genetic, hereditary diseases, need a special, multidisciplinary approach. The Committee in question, made up of all the relevant bodies and partners involved in the control and management of these diseases, constitutes a valuable tool, with its main characteristic being an advisory role to the Ministry of Health, he added.
Cyprus, he said, had made systematic and well-coordinated efforts to tackle the disease since the 60s and 70s and had gradually developed coordinated services for the prevention and clinical management of thalassemia.
"The cumulative effect of these efforts is reflected today in the increased survival of sufferers, who have perhaps the longest average age worldwide, as well as in the high rates of vocational rehabilitation and social integration," he noted.
He also made special reference to the great effort made and continues to be made by the Ministry of Health to upgrade the services offered by the Blood Banks and to centralize them, so that the collection, disposal and control of the available stocks can be done as efficiently as possible. of blood and its products.
Finally, he expressed his thanks to the National Thalassemia Committee for its essential work for the benefit of patients, who are always at the center of the Ministry's efforts.
"The commitment of all of us is to continue the efforts, setting even higher goals for the health and well-being of our fellow human beings," he concluded.
Source: KYPE
