Born in Nicosia in 1969, Pamboridis studied law in Greece and the UK.

He has worked for the City law firm of Holman, Fenwick & Willan before joining L. Papaphilippou & Co in Nicosia as a Partner for five years. Since 2003 he started up Pamboridis LLC with offices in Nicosia and Athens.

Pamboridis replaces Patsalis who resigned on July 9, 2015 citing personal reasons but also spoke of vested interests that stood in the way of vital reforms.

Patsalis, 53, thanked President Nicos Anastasiades for entrusting him with the health portfolio, saying personal reasons obliged him to submit his resignation.

“I’d like to believe that I did my duty with the highest sense of responsibility and diligence, making every possible effort to achieve the best in a sector that as you know well, is rife with problems and needs immediate and radical reorganisation,” the letter said.

Patsalis, appointed in March 2014, said he was proud that he managed to prepare the bills for the national health scheme, and making public hospitals autonomous, “and find ourselves a step before submitting them to parliament.

“As regards hospital autonomy and the NHS, implementation is more than necessary, and I hope that this time problems and interests, won’t stand in the way of implementation,” he said. At the beginning of the month, the cabinet postponed approval of the hospital autonomy bill but denied the delay was linked to a threatened 48-hour strike by state nurses.

Dialogue between the health ministry and health sector professionals would continue until mid-September, the president’s office announced.

Patsalis had warned that it was imperative MPs approved the bill before the summer recess because if momentum was lost Cyprus would not get a health scheme within 40 years. It appeared that pressure from unions forced the government to yield.

Source: Cyprus Mail