Filenews 14 February 2025 - by Marilena Panayi
From next April, our medical history will travel with us electronically throughout Europe, while prescriptions for medicines issued in Cyprus will be able to be filled in any EU member state participating in the program. In addition, by the end of the year, Cypriot citizens will be able to have on their mobile phone, through the mobile-App, all the information they need about their health, overnight pharmacies and a call application for emergencies.
The procedures for these two major projects concerning the health sector are already at an advanced stage and very soon, as mentioned yesterday in the parliamentary committee on Health, the relevant official announcements will be made.
As far as electronic cross-border healthcare is concerned, Cyprus is expected to become the 16th European state to join the relevant European program in about a month and a half.
In the first phase, as mentioned yesterday in Parliament by the representatives of the National eHealth Authority, the program of electronic cross-border care will have two main applications: The access of citizens to their medical history, so that if necessary they can use it during their stay in another EU member state and the execution of prescriptions for medicines. That is, in case the Cypriot citizen is in another EU state, he can execute in the local pharmacies participating in the health systems of the states, the prescriptions that his doctor in Cyprus has issued electronically.
With the accession of Cyprus to the programme, European citizens acquire similar rights during their stay in Cyprus.
In future phases, electronic cross-border healthcare will include several other applications, mainly after completing the structure of the electronic patient record in which all necessary health-related patient data will be recorded. These data will be determined by the European Project Xt-HER in which Cyprus has taken on the role of coordinator among the other EU members.
As planned, specifications for the completed electronic file will be delivered in April 2026.
As already known, the preliminary specifications of the electronic file include 12 different pillars concerning, inter alia, the demographics of the citizen, medical history, diagnoses, results of laboratory and other tests, surgeries, medication received or received by the citizen, etc.
The second major project to be implemented concerns the operation of the application for mobile phones and other mobile devices that citizens will be able to use for purposes related to their health (and not only).
The tender for the construction of the mobile application will be announced, after many delays and postponements, in the coming days and as mentioned by the representatives of the Authority, the procedures, unless unexpected, will be completed by the end of the year or early 2026.
The mobile-App will initially offer access to the summary of the citizen's medical history, will include the so-called "panic button" that the citizen will activate in cases of emergency and overnight pharmacies.
This application, with the passage of time, will be enriched and the goal is to be linked at some point to the "Potential" project of the European Commission concerning the "European e-wallet".
The parliamentary committee on Health was briefed by the chairman and the other representatives of the Authority on two other important projects that are currently being promoted.
The first project concerns the creation of an application, eCAN (e-cancer) which will be addressed to cancer patients and the second the electronic European card for vaccinations.
These are, according to the Authority, two very important projects that "are currently being promoted and our goal is to complete them as soon as possible."
