Filenews 29 May 2025 - by Marilena Panagi
The Ministry of Health and the Parliament are in a race since there are still many legislative pending issues in the health sector and create, on a daily basis, distortions in the health system of the country and problems in the service of patients.
The Ministry of Health, covering a huge part of the pending issues that have existed for years, has prepared a total of 18 bills, many of which are pending before the Parliament, some have already been passed into law and some are subject to legal and technical control by the Legal Service.
Another 5 bills (one of which concerns the amendment of two existing legislations) are in the process of public consultation or are still being discussed between the Ministry of Health and stakeholders.
In order to prevent the passage of all bills before the closure of the Parliament in April 2026, due to parliamentary elections, and in order to be able to convene, since from Christmas 2025 onwards it is assumed that several MPs will be absent due to the election campaign, (the summer holidays between July and September are also in between), the parliamentary Committee on Health has focused, For a few weeks now, it has been in its legislative work.
In fact, today's scheduled meeting has been set for 8:30 in the morning with the aim of completing the discussion of bills that must be brought to the Plenary Session of the Parliament as soon as possible for a vote.
For the same reason, the Ministry of Health is also rushing to prevent the preparation of the bills that have not yet been submitted to the Parliament and certainly, the Legal Service is also entering the race since four important bills are pending before it which concern the operation of radiodiagnostic centers, the centers for the provision of palliative care services, the operation of ambulances in Cyprus and the implementation of the Planning and Availability Plan for Infrastructure and Personnel in the Health Sector (capacity planning).
The lack of legislation regarding palliative care already creates a large gap in the services offered through the GHS, since these are currently limited only to the group of cancer patients.
The bills concerning the operation of the institution of the Patient Ombudsman, the abolition of the Supervision Commissioner of the GHS, the change of the charges and fees of the State Health Services Organization as well as an amendment (for technical issues) of the GHS law have been passed into law.
On the way to the Plenary Session is the bill that amends the Law on Doctors and introduces provisions that impose the continuous training of doctors and the way the Disciplinary Council of the Cyprus Medical Association operates.
The bill that provides for the operation of rehabilitation and recovery centers is in the process of being debated by article, while for the bills concerning breastfeeding and community nursing, the Health Committee is expected to prepare its final position today.
Today, moreover, the bill that safeguards the profession of ambulance rescue crews enters the process of discussion by article.
The two bills concerning the operation of biomedical laboratories in Cyprus were discussed last week, however, due to disagreements between those involved, time was given for dialogue until next September.
Pending are the bills ratifying the agreement between the Ministry of Health of Cyprus and the Ministry of Health of Greece in the field of kidney cross-transplantation and the agreement between the Republic of Cyprus and the Hellenic Republic in the field of transplantation in general. An amendment to the law on eHealth in Cyprus is also pending.
The University Clinics are a hot potato
A hot potato for the health sector in general is the bill that provides for the operation of University Clinics in Cyprus, which is already causing turbulence, with disagreements between the involved doctors, mainly hospital and academic doctors, being taken for granted. Besides, bills for the operation of university clinics were submitted at least two more times to the Parliament, but they were returned to the Ministry of Health due to controversies.
Pending issues at the Ministry of Health
Four bills are pending at the level of the Ministry of Health.
More important for the health sector is considered to be the bill concerning the operation of the National Clinical Documentation Center. At this stage, the Ministry of Health is awaiting the final comments of the Health Insurance Organization and then the bill will be sent to the Legal Service for legal review.
A second important bill concerns the operation of the National Cancer Institute. The writing of the bill is in the early stages.
The third bill concerns the operation of public and private hospitals. The Ministry's intention is to amend two legislations, the law on private hospitals and the law governing the operation of the OCYPY. The event has already caused reactions. Officially, the Ministry of Health informs that the process of consultation and processing of the proposals that have been submitted has been completed. The aim is to inform the competent associations of private hospitals and to send the bill to the Legal Service for legal and technical control.
The fourth bill concerns the operation of doctors' offices and dental clinics. According to official information from the Ministry, the consultation has already been completed, and the comments and suggestions submitted by the stakeholders are currently being processed.
Finally, the bill that will provide for the provision of Community mental health is being prepared by the Office of the Commissioner for Legislation.
