Volume L, No 3, July-September 2012 - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Georghiou’s generosity, and we were quite pleased
that the age of the building was in harmony with
most of our exhibits.
Important decisions by the Committee
The Museum Committee immediately made a
number of decisions. First, the exhibits were going
to be grouped in eight entities of related specialties.
With the use of lighted platforms and life-sized
models, we would bring the operating, delivery
and examining rooms of the previous century to
life. Well known architect and set designer George
Papadopoulos undertook this project.
Another important decision was the creation
of an electronic infrastructure, a database and
a website. We decided to install touch screens
throughout the museum, so that visitors could
access information about each exhibit, including
the period, the location where the items in the
exhibit were used, how the items were used and
who donated them to the collection. This project
was undertaken by surgeon Marios Karaiskakis,
whose hobbies include electronic structuring
and Web design.
Finally, the selection, transfer and description
of the museum’s exhibits was overseen by Chris
Messis, who was assisted by Michalis Korais. The
translation of all museum information into English
will soon be available on the website.
The Museum’s Contents
The Cyprus Medical Museum today houses 160
exhibits donated by 32 doctors and their families.
The exhibits are grouped in eight units, all of them
supported by touch screens.
Some of the special items on exhibit in the
museum include medical equipment used
for the first time in Cyprus. This includes an
electrocardiograph belonging to the late Mikis
Constantinides from Nicosia (1940) and the
first haemodialysis machine that was used privately
by Greek and Turkish Cypriot patients
in Limassol around 1970. Other impressive exhibits
feature the delivery and care of a baby in
1930, surgery with general anaesthesia in 1950,
ENT surgery in 1950 and orthopaedic surgery
in 1960.
The museum also features an impressive exhibit
devoted to the outpatient performance of radiological
procedures in the 1940s, including all
the necessary protection used by the physician
and the patient and film development equipment.
Another interesting section of the museum
comprises neurological equipment used on
the island in the 1960s for electroencephalography
(EEG), Electromyography (EMG) and
electroconvulsive (ECT) treatment. Antiquated
dentistry equipment, from the 1950s, is accompanied
by a caricature by dentist and artist Stathis
Economides.
Former Health Minister Stavros Malas inaugurates the
Cyprus Medical Museum
Head of the Cyprus Medical Association, Dr Andreas
Demetriou
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