With the soul in the mouth, the surgery programs in hospitals are drawn up, from time to time, with the risk of postponements of surgeries now visible.
Thalassaemia patients in Cyprus are also living with the anxiety about their next transfusion, with postponements in transfusions having begun to affect children with Thalassemia whose growth is now at risk.
Cyprus needs, in modern times, 350 units of blood per day, and the number of units collected, especially lately, ranges between 150 and 250 per day.
Doctors, patients and hospitals warn of the continuation, stressing the need for measures to be taken by the Ministry of Health, implementation of actions to attract new blood donors and better management of stocks to ensure the safety of all patients who need blood.
Surgeries with an eye on available stocks
"The reduced blood reserves directly affect the smooth operation of the surgeries and therefore the service of patients," said the president of OEB, Giorgos Pantelidis, speaking to "F".
As he explained, the capabilities of Cypriot medicine have changed. "In Cyprus now, we are happy to be able to state that serious, specialized and complex operations are being performed for which in previous decades Cypriot patients were forced to go abroad."
This progress, he stressed, also requires sufficient blood reserves: "In order to carry out these operations, however, it is imperative that there are increased blood reserves for the safety of patients."
"In recent years, we have very often found it difficult to plan surgeries due to the uncertainty that, very often, prevails and concerns the availability of blood at the time of surgery," he said.
"Many times hospitals are forced to adjust their schedule accordingly and there are certainly cases where there is also a question of postponing a surgery."
This uncertainty has a direct impact on the patient awaiting surgery, but also on the staff who are called upon to safely organize a demanding surgical program.
The president of OEB underlined that "it must now be examined whether the way of managing the stocks and the way in which blood donors are approached in order to ensure sufficient stocks to meet all needs.
"The increased needs require an increase in blood donation," he noted, pointing out that "in a country that is proud of blood donation, we cannot fail to do something to strengthen it so that we have the reserves we really need for the entire health system to function properly and serve patients without discounts."
"We are fighting to operate safely"
The pressure on the private sector was described by the president of the Pancyprian Association of Private Hospitals, surgeon Marios Karaiskakis. "The schedule of surgeries is maintained, from time to time, with great difficulty. There are periods when we really fight to operate safely," he told "F".
As he argued, the effort to secure blood is now part of the daily organization, especially when it comes to large and specialized operations. "The reduced stocks directly affect the surgery schedule and in many cases we are struggling to secure the blood units we needed for specific large and specialized surgeries."
Mr. Karaiskakis acknowledged the effort made by the hospitals, the Blood Center and the Ministry of Health for proper management.
He said, however, that this effort is not enough as long as stocks remain lower than what current needs require.
"In recent years we have been really fighting to make ends meet and operate safely for our patients," he stressed.
"It is now imperative, as a state, to take our measures, to attract new blood donors, because there is a visible risk that the time will come when we will have a big problem."
The expansion of treatment possibilities in Cyprus, he said, also increases the need for reliable blood supply to hospitals. Without it, even when surgical teams and infrastructure are available, the smooth execution of the program becomes difficult, resulting in the patients themselves being affected.
"I'm afraid to think about the next day"
New postponements of transfusions for thalassaemia patients
"I'm afraid to think about the next day," the president of the Pancyprian Thalassaemia Association, Miltos Miltiadous, told "F", as, as he said, the notifications for postponements of transfusions continue.
As he mentioned, postponements were recorded last week and at the beginning of the current one, while yesterday he received new messages from patients who had been notified of the possibility of postponing their transfusions.
For people with thalassaemia, transfusion is not an occasional need, he underlined. "We are talking about people who are transfused every one or two weeks," he stressed and explained: "When a transfusion is postponed or a smaller amount of blood is given than required, patients may need to return earlier for a new visit."
"We are in a situation where we see things getting worse," he said.
What intensifies the concern of patients is the fact that the difficulty in collecting a sufficient number of units of blood has now extended beyond the end of the holidays.
"We usually faced these problems during periods of leave, holidays, etc. But the problems this year have not stopped with the end of the holidays", pointed out Mr. Miltiadous, adding that "this fact alone should concern us and put us on alert".
According to the data of the Pancyprian Thalassaemia Association, "while the average needs reach about 350 units of blood per day, recently 150 to 250 have been collected".
"You realize that with these numbers the problem does not only affect thalassaemia patients," he says, reminding that other patients also need blood, as well as specialized surgeries.
He expressed particular anxiety about children with thalassemia (thalassemia). "We have undertransfusions in children. Do you understand what this means for their development?" he asked.
"Right now we can't provide them with the most important thing they need, blood."
The Association, Mr. Miltiadous concluded, has repeatedly asked for solutions from the Ministry of Health "which we must say seems to understand what we are submitting".
Recently, "blood donations have been organized in camps and large municipalities, but the need for stable planning remains. We must not always act at the moment when there is a crisis. We must make sure that no crises arise."
