Staggered reductions in road taxes, free or reduced parking, public transport facilities, and even priority service to specific services are included in the package of non-monetary incentives under discussion aimed at attracting and retaining volunteer blood donors.
Actions to save blood reserves and implement and compensate, through the GHS, methods of recovery of blood from surgeries on the table, with the Blood Strategy already on its way to approval by the Council of Ministers.
Reduced staff in blood collection, employers who create problems for blood donor workers and the need for more rational management of stocks.
All this, at a time when Cyprus is recording an "unprecedentedly" prolonged period of blood shortage and postponement of transfusions with doctors and patients sounding the alarm.
The need to provide incentives was supported, in addition to the representatives of the patients, by the head of the Blood Center, Andri Panagiotou. He said that the attendance of blood donors has increased in recent years, without, however, meeting the growing demand for blood, noting that the shortages of blood donation assistants limit the possibilities of extending the hours and carrying out more external blood donations.
The situation in Limassol is indicative, where, according to the head of the Blood Center, more than 100 hours of overtime work are required every month to extend the working hours. In Larnaca, Paphos and Famagusta, staff shortages do not allow a corresponding expansion of the operation of the stations.
He also referred to the obstacles that employees encounter when they wish to donate blood, raising the issue of relevant leaves. He also underlined the need to start informing about voluntary blood donation from school.
Four units of blood for a consumable of €600
Machines that can reduce the need for transfusions during surgeries already exist in large hospitals, but, according to the Pancyprian Association of Private Hospitals, they remain largely unused. The reason, according to PASIN, "is that the Health Insurance Organization does not reimburse the consumables required for their operation, at a cost of about €600 per incident".
These are intraoperative blood retrieval machines, which allow, where appropriate, the collection and processing of blood lost by the patient during the operation and its readministration to him. PASIN claims that each use of the method saves an average of four units of blood and asks the HIO to proceed with its compensation.
According to the memorandum, submitted by PASIN, on March 4, 2026, the Minister of Health had given an instruction to resubmit the relevant request to the HIO, without a conclusion to date.
Commenting on this position of the hospitals, the representative of the HIO confirmed that the Organization has been informed about the methods of blood recovery in surgeries and is examining whether they can contribute to its savings.
Need for more rational inventory management
The problem, however, is not only found in the amount of blood collected, but also in the way it is distributed.
The president of PASIN, Marios Karaiskakis, said yesterday, before the parliamentary committee on health, that there are cases in which blood units remain in hospital refrigerators, while shortages are recorded in other hospitals. "For this reason, we are asking for the installation of a single electronic system, through which the location of each unit of blood will be recorded on a nationwide basis and the redistribution of stocks will be facilitated when there is a need."
The importance of rational use was also referred to by the director of Hospital Blood Banks of the Ministry of Health, Maria Adamou, who stressed the need to implement common rules and systematic monitoring of transfusions.
At the Cabinet next week
The National Blood Strategy 2026–2030, which was completed on September 2 as part of the work of the National Blood Donation Council, is expected to be brought to the Council of Ministers next week, as reported at the meeting of the Health Committee.
Among its goals are to maintain national blood supplies for three to five days and reduce unnecessary transfusions by at least 30%, based on 2025 data.
The goal is not to limit the transfusions that patients need, but those that can be avoided by implementing appropriate medical protocols.
The Strategy also includes the strengthening of hemovigilance and the systematic monitoring of blood use in public and private hospitals.
A first step was taken on October 21, when the Council of Ministers approved the Regulations for the establishment and operation of Hemovigilance and Transfusion Surveillance Committees. The committees will monitor the transfusion process, record adverse events and monitor the implementation of the relevant protocols.
Cry of anguish of doctors and patients
The prolonged period of blood shortages recorded in the last two months is characterized by doctors and patients as unprecedented, resulting in repeatedly scheduled transfusions of people with thalassemia being postponed.
The problem is not new, however, as pointed out before the parliamentary committee on health, in the past shortages usually lasted a few days, while "this time the situation continues for weeks, without the smooth performance of transfusions having been restored".
Doctor Sotiroula Christou, from the Thalassaemia Clinic of Makarios Hospital, described the duration of the shortages as unprecedented, warning of the consequences that continuous postponements can have on the health of patients. As he explained, a single postponement does not necessarily imply an immediate medical complication. However, when transfusions are repeatedly postponed, patients remain for longer periods of time with low hemoglobin levels, without achieving the goals set by the treatment protocols.
At the same time, the situation creates serious problems in the daily lives of patients, who are forced to repeatedly change their schedules, be absent from work and return to hospitals for transfusions that had been postponed.
During the crisis, the president of OSAK and the Pancyprian Thalassaemia Association, Miltos Miltiadou, also commented, stressing that patients no longer face occasional absences of a few days, but a situation that is prolonged for two months. In fact, he conveyed to the Committee the testimony of a woman with thalassemia who described the difficulties caused by postponements, but also by the administration of fewer blood units than planned.
Patients' concern is now focused not only on the discomfort, but also on the possible effects that the continued inability to perform transfusions in the prescribed time may have on their health.
He got a license and honor and a second treatment
The HIO, as reported to the parliamentary committee on Health, has included in the GHS a treatment for thalassaemia patients which aims to reduce the need for transfusions, while, at the same time, as a representative of the Pharmaceutical Services stated, a second treatment has been registered and received an honor in the previous days with the HIO stating that it is ready to proceed with its evaluation.
In particular, the representative of the HIO referred to the elaboration of a rapid access program, expressing the hope that the new treatment will be included in it.
