It is difficult to answer the question of whether a particular treatment is safe, given the regulatory framework governing the oversight of these centers and the number of agencies involved in that oversight.
Speaking on the Alpha News program, Patient Advocate Marios Charalambides emphasized that “given the current framework, it is very difficult for anyone to say whether a service is safe as a whole.”
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This is due to the fact that many agencies are involved in the inspection process.
“The Cyprus Medical Council oversees one aspect. The Pan-Cyprian Medical Association oversees another. The medical services oversee yet another. Pharmaceutical companies oversee one aspect. Another agency deals with medical technology equipment. Unless it involves a doctor—in which case they cannot intervene—or unless it involves a licensed medical center. In that case, the police step in immediately.”
He added that in order to say a service is safe as a whole, all these elements must be connected, inspections must be conducted, and information must be shared.
“If this framework isn’t coordinated, under no circumstances can anyone say that the service is safe,” he emphasized, particularly regarding facilities that are not large medical centers, giving the example that someone might be a licensed doctor, the machine might be in good working order, but there could be an issue with the conditions required to use the machine.
For his part, Biochemist and Clinical Laboratory Director Haris Tymvios, speaking on the “Alpha News” program, referred to wellness therapies, emphasizing that the problem is that “so the problem is that, with the internet and social media, it’s extremely difficult to control what reaches the ears and eyes of consumers or those who are looking for a quick fix.”
He noted that the only way to address the problem is “to properly inform the public about the reality, not with exaggerations or by trying to demonize any treatment.”
He emphasized that the first thing that needs to be conveyed to the public is that “everything starts with inner health.”
“In other words, if your blood test results are within normal ranges, then you’re much more likely to achieve well-being much more easily.”
Meanwhile, the other treatments that are advertised “won’t do you any good at all,” he said, offering nothing more than occasional hydration or a “quick fix.”
