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Blood supplies available to hospitals across Cyprus have increased in recent weeks, improving the ability of blood banks to meet medical demand, according to Maria Adamou, head of the island's hospital blood banks.
Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) on Thursday, November 5, Adamou said the Blood Centre had increased the quantities of blood distributed to hospital banks, allowing services to respond more effectively to patients requiring transfusions.
Although demand remains high, she described the approval of Cyprus' national blood strategy as an important step towards improving the country's blood donation and supply system.
The strategy is designed to modernise blood collection services and improve how available supplies are planned, managed and distributed. Its implementation is also expected to strengthen the safety and adequacy of blood stocks while encouraging more efficient use of donated blood.
Adamou stressed that blood remains a limited resource, making responsible use essential to maintaining sufficient supplies for patients.
Separately, she dismissed the possibility of a similar cyberattack affecting Cyprus' blood storage facilities following a recent incident in France, where hackers reportedly targeted blood storage systems.
She explained that refrigerators and freezers used to preserve blood and blood products at the Blood Centre and hospital blood banks have built-in temperature control systems.
Although external sensors are connected to the internet to monitor and transmit temperature readings continuously, they operate independently of the refrigeration equipment itself.
This means the monitoring system can record temperature changes but cannot access or alter the equipment's electronic controls, including its temperature settings or operating functions, Adamou explained.
The distinction, she said, rules out the type of remote interference that could otherwise affect the storage conditions of blood supplies.
