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It is with great pleasure, but also feelings of emotion, that I participate in tonight's event to honour the volunteers of life, the volunteer Bone Marrow Donors.
Tonight's event is a minimal tribute and gratitude to all those who show us the way, whose actions give hope and life to a fellow human being, a young child, an adult. Organ donation, bone marrow donation and, by extension, transplantation itself is, without a doubt, a gift of life to all those of our fellow citizens who need it.
Tonight's event is organized by the Karaiskakio Foundation. A non-profit Foundation, which through its long-standing contribution to Cypriot society, and not only, makes us very proud. We are all aware of its multi-level contribution to our country and beyond. Allow me to dwell on just a few points:
The first concerns the Donor Bank, one of the largest donor banks in existence.
The second concerns the participation of Turkish Cypriots, because there is an important dimension here, because the participation of Turkish Cypriots in the Karaiskakeion Donor Bank is the largest bicommunal cooperation, the most successful model of bicommunal cooperation that has existed in the Republic of Cyprus since 1960.
The third is that Karaiskakeio through its multi-level work has emerged as a centre of excellence for our country. It is the most classic example and we are very proud of it.
By extension, I would like to highlight the fact that Karaiskakeio has so far given transplants to about 750 people in more than 35 countries, thus highlighting our country and what our country, through such centres of excellence, can offer.
And I would like to mention a personal experience, when I was Foreign Minister, on three occasions, when I visited countries in the region - I was not aware of it - this was pointed out to me by my interlocutors, the important dimension of the work that Karaiskakeio does for people in their countries who need it.
Moreover, our country has registered Cypriot voluntary donors aged 18-60 years old in a population ratio of 1 to 3, a high percentage for our country, which numerically exceeds 200,000 active donors, which you understand ranks our Donor Bank as one of the largest that exists at the international level. It is in this context that the grafts collected from registered donors are sent to every country where there is a patient who needs it and was lucky enough to be a match.
The work of the Karaiskakio Foundation is not only limited to finding a compatible donor and what I mentioned above. At the same time, it has a fully equipped laboratory in which molecular techniques are applied for the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with haematological malignancies, while at the same time it has developed a state-of-the-art network of specialised diagnostic laboratories dealing with haematological malignancies, chronic and rare diseases.
In this huge effort for the early diagnosis and treatment of haematological malignancies and especially leukaemia, an unpredictable disease that can knock on the door of any of us, the State has been, is and will continue to be a helper.
And I would like to inform you tonight that at tomorrow's Cabinet meeting we will also approve, as part of the budget amendments, the establishment of the Cancer Institute. I want to acknowledge the important work and role of all previous Governments. The amount allocated by the Ministry of Health for the specialized examinations carried out by the Karaiskakio Foundation amounts to €4,000,000 and the annual sponsorship is approximately €350,000.
Allow me to congratulate the organizers of tonight's event for their valuable and long-lasting work. At the same time, it would be a great omission if we did not once again applaud the contribution of the volunteer samplers, who do their utmost to carry out this sacred mission.
I would therefore particularly like to congratulate and thank both the bone marrow donors whom we are honouring tonight and future donors. I hope that this act of selfless giving and love for our fellow man will find worthy successors, imitators, so that the number of bone marrow donors will increase even more. Only in this way will the hope of healing increase for the people who are anxiously awaiting the coveted compatible graft, in order to emerge victorious from the titanic struggle which they fight every day.
(PM/KC/EP)
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