Importers of medical equipment told the House Health Committee on Thursday that there were serious gaps in state checks on their products. The Ministry of Health is preparing legislation to create a register of medical equipment and a comprehensive supervision system, covering the health sector in general and so-called wellness centres in particular.
Wellness centres and other premises that carry out medical procedures without a licence are not subject to any checks, because there is no legislation to license them, the committee heard.
“We are checked more by our suppliers than by the state itself,” Michalis Potamitis, representing the Cyprus Association of Medical and Scientific Equipment Representatives, told the committee. He said the state service responsible was understaffed and unable to carry out all the necessary checks, and pointed out that importers and suppliers did not need a licence in every case, unlike in the pharmaceutical sector.
Marios Karaiskakis, president of the private hospitals’ association PASIN, raised the issue of unequal supervision. Checks could not be limited to licensed hospitals when medical procedures were also carried out elsewhere, he said, calling for an examination of what actually happens on each premises, regardless of how it is classified or whether it has inpatient beds.
Larnaca centre
The committee also discussed police and Ministry of Health investigations into a medical centre in Larnaca whose medical equipment was approved. A ministry representative said plasmapheresis was carried out there using six machines, although the premises did not have the required operating licence, and that an inspection had found the two doctors in charge did not have the required specialty.
Giorgos Charalambous of Larnaca police told the committee that two complaints had been filed over the case, in 2023 and on 14 January 2026. The first was investigated and sent to the Law Office of the Republic, while the investigation into the second is in its final stage. The main legal question, he added, was whether the premises fall within the definition of a hospital and therefore need an operating licence.
The ministry said the centre suspended its operations voluntarily after interventions and repeated inspections.
Oversight
Patients’ Advocate Marios Charalambides said seven or eight bodies share inspection responsibilities, without any one body ensuring the safety of services as a whole.
Cyprus Medical Association (CyMA) president Petros Agathangelou called for responsibilities, investigation procedures and sanctions to be clearly defined. He also raised the question of checks on the procurement, installation and use of medical equipment.
Michalis Rovanias of the Cyprus Medical Council said checks on doctors’ qualifications and registration were a separate process, and that the law limited the council’s ability to intervene in some cases.
