Filenews 27 November 2020 - by Marilena Panagi
They are running to close loose ends, to promote the process of registering and signing contracts by health professionals, dentists and nurses in the Health Insurance Agency while consultations with some professional specialties will continue literally up to and including the status, since there are still some small outstanding issues that need to be settled so as not to affect the smooth and uninterrupted service of the beneficiaries of the General Health System.
As far as citizens are concerned, "they should be aware that from 1 December, dentists are included in the GHS, dentists whom beneficiaries can visit for a free cleaning a year, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, clinical dietitians and clinical psychologists as well as nurses and midwives who will also provide their services in community nursing," OAC director Andreas Papakonstantinou told "F".
With a referment from a specialist doctor and a supplement of €10
- For dentists, where the visit through the GHS will be once a year and will concern tooth cleaning, no supplementation will be paid. (The year in this case shall begin to be calculated from the day on which the beneficiary first received the service in question and shall not be calculated on the basis of the calendar year).
- For the other categories of professionals, the beneficiary of the GHS will pay €10 per visit/meeting. That is, if a patient needs to make three visits to a physiotherapist he will pay a total of €30.
- For the services of health professionals, a complaint will be issued by specialist doctors, designated specialties for each occupational category and it will not be possible for the personal doctor to issue a complaint.
- There will be a ceiling on the number of visits to which the beneficiary will be entitled within the year, by specialty and by diagnosis. The ceilings, however, will vary depending on the category of health problem that each patient faces, depending on age, etc. There will also be variations for children.
- If the professional considers (and the beneficiary has consented) that he needs to make more visits than those covered by the GHS, he will be able to receive them but will be able to receive them at the cost.
The OAC, as Mr Papakonstantinou said, "is preparing relevant information material for the beneficiaries of the GHS which will be made public in the coming days so that citizens know what services they will be entitled to through the System and how they will be able to secure them".
With regard to the outstanding issues that still exist, the director of the OAC admitted that "there are some professional groups with which we have not yet reached agreements, however, under no circumstances are there any disagreements or differences that we cannot deal with through dialogue and it certainly does not mean that the services will not join the GHS on 1 December. In a consultation process there are always outstanding issues and the dialogue with all concerned will continue after Tuesday."
For example, he added, "with the Association of Physiotherapists we will have a new meeting on Monday but that does not mean that the GHS will not have physiotherapists."
As Mr Papakonstantinou pointed out, "citizens should be aware that the System in the first period will not have a large number of professionals, since the process of registering them and signing contracts is still at an early stage and thus, the names of those who sign their contracts will appear gradually over time on the website of the GHS".
In total from the day of the start of the procedure until yesterday at noon, 159 dentists, 353 health professionals of various professional specialties and 37 nurses and midwives had registered with the GHS.
The vaccination process of the population in Cyprus will begin without delay, when and when vaccines currently in the final stage of clinical trials prove effective and obtain the necessary marketing authorisations from the relevant international and European institutions.
As the press officer of the Ministry of Health, Margarita Kyriakou, told "F", "a committee has been set up involving members of the scientific team who have already drawn up a first vaccination plan for which priority will be given to people belonging to high-risk groups and then the process will be extended to the rest of the population". Mrs Kyriakou, however, clarified that "we are not in a position at the moment to know when we will have the first doses of vaccines in Cyprus and certainly when we will start vaccinations".
Vaccination plan completed
The vaccination plan, he concluded, "will certainly be ready on time because the preparation has already been made and when necessary the relevant announcements will be made to inform the public".
The estimate that the first doses of vaccines will be in Cyprus even in December, made by Professor Leontios Kostrikis.
For Cyprus, Mr. Kostrikis said that "if we have the first doses in December then we will gradually start vaccinating people belonging to the high-risk groups. Most vaccines provide for two doses, so these individuals will be vaccinated at the first dose and after a few weeks they will receive the second dose and certainly not all the quantities will come together but gradually."
Therefore, "the whole process will take several months and therefore the introduction of the first quantities of vaccines in Cyprus should not be seen as the end of the measures and the whole effort".
He also clarified that, "in order to achieve herd immunity in Cyprus, 65% -70% must be vaccinated".
Enhanced with 2 private TDPs in the GHS
In important announcements in relation to the services of Accident and Emergency Departments it is expected that the OAC will proceed in the coming days since according to Mr Papakonstantinou "we have reached an agreement with two private hospitals which will probably inform about the accession of their TEPs to the GHS". This, said Mr Papakonstantinou, "is a very positive development because we will strengthen the PUBLIC TDPs and our beneficiaries will have more options at their disposal
