Cyprus Mail 4 September 2019 - article by Lizzy Ioannidou
Temporary measures allowing access to Gesy services to those still struggling with citizenship or technical issues were put forward to the cabinet on Wednesday by Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou.
Piling onto the temporary measures passed by cabinet in July, whereby those who were unable to register for reasons relating to residence permits and citizenship were granted access to Gesy pending the issuing of the necessary documents by the civil registry, the cabinet moved on Wednesday to allow access to all those still struggling with registration.
The move came after the health ministry was made aware of new groups of Cyprus residents who were still barred from accessing the services of the universal health system which launched in June.
These groups include diplomats and employees of foreign embassies working in Cyprus, as well as European tourists or students studying on the island who are holders of the European health insurance card (EHIC).
A third group of Cyprus residents are still unable to register with Gesy due to technical issues, mainly due to the Gesy software.
According to the health insurance organisation (HIO), the process that is required in order to make the necessary changes to the Gesy software is complicated and will take time.
As such, the cabinet agreed to cover the cost of offering Gesy services to the above groups until the end of the year, by which time the changes are expected to have been made.
Since June 5, access to Gesy was granted to persons, mostly elderly, who have a medical card and an old Cypriot ID but no Cypriot citizenship and are unable to register with Gesy as their ID is no longer considered valid by the civil registry.
Those awaiting their permanent residence status to be issued, as well as newborns and children who have been born in Cyprus to foreign nationals, and who have a birth certificate but not the necessary residence permits, are also included in this group.
Access to Gesy was also granted to third-country nationals who have a work permit but have yet to be issued a residence permit, as well as to the members and families of the Greek military force in Cyprus, Eldyk.
