When Londoner Georgina Michael leaves Larnaca, a piece of her will remain behind, a tiny part that will be forever Cyprus.

Actually, it’s quite a large part - 11lb 7oz, to be precise - a swathe of yellow blubber stretching from her bikini line to her ribcage, removed in a cosmetic procedure that has given the 37-year-old the stomach of a starlet.

But since when has Cyprus been on the nip/tuck trail?

“Since very recently,” says Athena Theodorou of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation. “Hospitals here have spent millions in the past few years to meet stringent European standards as a prerequisite for joining the EU, and now they’re looking for a return on that investment. We know we’ve got something special here - brand-new hospitals and experienced surgeons trained in the best overseas medical schools - and a national effort is being made, at government level, to promote those facilities to overseas patients.”

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Georgina is now one of them. After four children, her belly had the elasticity of a pair of worn-out knickers, and no amount of dieting or sit-ups was going to put it right. Corrective surgery on the NHS was out of the question - she wasn’t depressed enough - and going private at home was too expensive. So she has become a medical tourist, spending the price of a family holiday on a 10-day stay in a Larnaca hospital. Her souvenir will be a flat stomach and taut abs, so next year she’ll be able to wear a bikini without blocking out the sun.

“There’s already a buzz in London that Cyprus is the place for cosmetic work, so I looked on treatmentabroad.com , found the Picture Perfect medical co-ordinators’ website and here I am,” says Georgina, sitting in her private room, minutes before surgery at Larnaca’s boutique St Raphael hospital.

Georgina’s tummy tuck (£3,000 in Larnaca, £8,000 in London) was performed in a state-of-the-art laminar-flow operating theatre by a six-strong surgical team, in a hospital that’s three years old and has never seen a single case of MRSA. The anaesthetist stayed for the entire four-hour procedure - which is by no means standard practice in cosmetic surgery - and Claire Makrides, from Picture Perfect, hovered at Georgina’s side throughout, like some scrubs-clad guardian angel.

“Remember when the NHS worked?” asks Dr Yiannis Ioannou, who specialises in obesity and practises at Limassol’s Ygia private hospital (gastric bypass £1,500, UK price £11,000). “When wards were spotless, sheets were starched and matron’s word was law? Remember when patients were allowed to convalesce? That’s what we offer, but with 21st-century technology - and the quality of care is as good as anywhere in England.”

There are 22 private hospitals on the island. A heart bypass costs £10,000 here (£16,000 in London), and what’s startling is the speed at which operations can be scheduled. “If you need a hip replacement [£6,000 in Larnaca, £9,000 in Leeds], you can contact us on Wednesday and be in theatre by Saturday,” says Picture Perfect’s Joanna Matsentides.

The most popular procedure is IVF (£2,725 here, £8,000 at home). Treatment takes up to a month, with no upper age limit, and preimplantation embryonic scanning for genetic abnormalities is permitted under Cypriot law. While success rates are no higher in Limassol than, say, in Leicester, hospital manager Angela Constantinides says Aphrodite’s island offers a subtle difference. “I’ve had ladies tell me they’ve undergone IVF in England and then gone home and done the hoovering. Here, you take a walk on the beach, have a romantic dinner and the magic happens.”

Back at St Raphael hospital, Dr Nikos Mantas is working his own magic. He has sliced Georgina’s belly from hip to hip and rolled it up like a rug to reveal stomach muscles as stretched as an old sweater. Pinching the slack, he sutures them tight. “Hey presto,” he says. “Instant six-pack.”

All she has to do is stay off the halloumi.

Chris Haslam travelled as a guest of Cyprus Airways and the Four Seasons Hotel (00 357 25 858000, www.fourseasons.com.cy )

Travel details: as well as offering a range of surgery, Picture Perfect (00 357 25 723573, www.pictureperfect.com.cy ) can recommend local hotels. Typically, patients stay in hospital for 48 hours, then return every day or two for aftercare.

Getting there: there are flights to Larnaca and Paphos from 17 UK airports. Cyprus Airways (020 8359 1333, www. cyprusairways.com ) flies from Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester to Larnaca and Paphos, with fares from £225. Find details of other flights to Cyprus at EasyJet.com, Thomsonfly.com and Flythomascook.com, and from British Airways (0844 493 0787, www.ba.com ).

More information: Cyprus Tourism Organisation (020 7569 8800, www.visitcyprus.com ).

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