Cyprus Health Ministry urges reports of centres offering questionable procedures

The Cyprus Health Ministry has urged citizens to report medical centres and facilities where questionable procedures are carried out without approved practices. The appeal was made by senior ministry official Carolina Stylianou, prompted by doctors’ reports about plasmapheresis at an unlicensed centre.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Marinos Soteriou, co-founder of the American Medical Centre clinic in Nicosia, said that a patient had been admitted to intensive care with extensive thromboses after undergoing plasmapheresis at a centre in Larnaca which, he said, did not have the necessary licences. The woman’s life was at risk, but she has now recovered.

Police said that the Health Ministry’s letter concerning the patient had been received as early as November 2023. “The examination of the case did not provide sufficient evidence of a criminal offence,” the statement said. The materials were referred to the Legal Service, which reached the same conclusion.

Stylianou said that the centre in question had been operating since 2022 and was closed after ministry officials visited the site, while the ministry itself filed a police report. She said she was not aware of the incident described by Soteriou.

According to her, the law allows healthcare institutions and day-care centres to be strictly inspected, including their premises, equipment and the services they provide. The ministry accepts all reports, including anonymous ones. “Citizens should not panic, but they should be cautious,” Stylianou stressed.

Plasmapheresis itself, Soteriou noted, is a recognised procedure with strict protocols that saves lives and should not be demonised. The problem is that it is used outside those protocols and advertised as a means of rejuvenation, while gaps in the law make it difficult to shut down such centres. The Health Ministry also separately warned Cypriots about advertised alternative treatment methods.