Cyprus, but also 35 other countries, have benefitted from the contribution of Cypriot volunteer bone marrow donors, Health Minister, Michalis Damianos said on Wednesday evening at an event at Karaiskakio Foundation in honour of volunteer bone marrow donors.

Almost one in three citizens in Cyprus is registered as a volunteer bone marrow donor, he said, adding that the joint registry of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot bone marrow donors, was an example of peaceful coexistence between the two communities.

The Minister, representing the President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides at the event, praised the donors’ altruism, noting that they ‘offer hope and life to patients’, while emphasizing the global outreach of the Foundation’s work.

‘Volunteer bone marrow donors are not just donors; they are true heroes’, he said, noting that their contribution has reached, not only Cyprus but also 35 different countries, and ‘has touched the hearts of more than 800 families around the world’.

He noted that the Kar
aiskakio Foundation, which has been leading this humanitarian effort for years, he said, has managed from its first steps to date, ‘to create one of the largest donor registries in the world in proportion to population, since almost one in three citizens is registered as a volunteer bone marrow donor’.

The Health Minister also said that the Karaiskakio Foundation has become a modern diagnostic center with international outreach, providing important diagnostic services to patients with leukemia and other malignancies through a network of specialised laboratories. Since 1995, the Foundation has provided high-quality services and is a reference centre for hemato-oncology and rare genetic diseases, he added.

He also noted the establishment of a multidisciplinary centre with an emphasis on childhood cancer.

The Republic of Cyprus, he said, recognising this important contribution, has been supporting the Foundation, adding that, since 2023 the Foundation is included in the budget of the Ministry of Health, while
, with a recent agreement, its financial stability has been ensured. This means that the Karaiskakio Foundation will continue its invaluable work, Damianos said.

Source: Cyprus News Agency