The office of the Presidential Commissioner handed over on Thursday a batch of medicine for Turkish Cypriot patients, who are registered at Gesy, the Health Insurance Organization. Prescription drugs were handed over to a representative of the UN peacekeeping force (UNFICYP), as patients have no access, due to measures in place that are restricting movement, as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Presidential Commissioner Photis Photiou told CNA that at the request of Turkish Cypriot patients, they compiled a list with prescription drugs for 20-25 patients and collected the medicine at the office. Additional needs for more patients may arise in the future, he went on.
Photiou said that the request, to deliver medicine to Turkish Cypriots through UNFICYP, is being granted, taking into account the crucial times Cyprus is going through, and stressed the humanitarian nature of the operation.
Supplies were handed over on Thursday at the office of the Presidential Commissioner, in Nicosia, by the Head of Humanitarian Services, Chrysanthos Chrysanthis to Munehiko Harada, an UNFICYP representative. The peacekeeping force will distribute them to the beneficiaries in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus.
Moreover, Photiou said that the humanitarian dispatch of food and medicine to enclaved Greek Cypriots and Maronites, as well as for those who resettled in Karpas and the Maronite villages, continues without any problems.
Replying to a relevant question, Photiou said that there is no confirmed COVID-19 case among the enclaved.
He also mentioned a case of a cancer patient who needs to cross into the free areas for chemotherapy, amid movement restrictions. Photiou said that they are facilitating the passage of the patient, who is also considering the possibility of getting treatment in the occupied areas. The final decision lies with him, the Presidential Commissioner concluded.
(CNA)
