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For the second day in a row, Cyprus faced rolling power cuts on Wednesday, leaving some patients stranded mid-scan and sparking fresh warnings from medical professionals about the risks to public health.
The Transmission System Operator ordered controlled, rotating outages lasting up to 30 minutes at a time, hitting different areas in turn. The problem isn’t a shortage of power overall; Cyprus has more than enough installed capacity but rather a matter of availability. Some conventional generating units were offline, and as the sun set and solar production dropped, the system couldn’t meet peak demand.
In the middle of a summer heatwave, even a short blackout can feel much longer. For families with young children, vulnerable residents, and patients relying on medical equipment, 30 minutes without electricity is no “mini-vacation,” as one official suggested. Businesses, especially in the busy tourist season, are also feeling the pinch.
Diagnostic centers, in particular, have been sounding the alarm. “Tests were interrupted while there were patients inside,” said George Kouttoukis, head of the Pancyprian Association of Diagnostic Centers. “There’s a real possibility that someone could be harmed, for example, if a patient had been given medication or had their pacemaker turned off for an MRI, and the power went out mid-scan.”
Kouttoukis described “serious scenarios” such as elderly patients with pacemakers stuck in elevators or people with claustrophobia trapped in MRI machines. He said he was assured that medical services would be exempt from power cuts, but that apparently didn’t extend to diagnostic centers.
“I called the minister’s office; he was absent. I called the director-general’s office and left a message, nothing,” he said. “Things are on autopilot.”
The outages come as Cyprus struggles to balance high demand with the limits of its aging power infrastructure, underscoring just how disruptive even half an hour without electricity can be when health and safety are on the line.
