Hospital that was last of its kind 01.11.12
26The closure of the Princess Mary Hospital in Cyprus has seen the final chapter written in the history of a long line of military hospitals.
The facility had served the British Forces Cyprus community for 50 years and you might be surprised to learn that it was not the first military hospital at RAF Akrotiri.
A temporary hospital opened first in 1955 after British Troops withdrew from Egypt. It - and its RAF Nurses of the time - served the community until TPMH could be built.
Designed by architect Alister MacDonald, son of Britain's first Labour Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald, Princes Mary opened the facility on November 21st 1963.
During its history some 13,000 babies were born there, with the hospital at its zenith in the sixties and seventies.
Sadly as the forces community dwindled - and the building grew older - the future of TPMH became uncertain with continuing rumours that the facility would have to close.
It has limped on under successive governments, facing the threat of closure agani ni 2005 when mechanical failures led to surgery being suspended and operations moved to Limassol.
Ultimately, the age and scale of the building has been its downfall. TPMH may have gone but for those who were born here, or were treated here, it will live on in memory forever.