Filenews 23 May 2025 - by Vasos Vassiliou
In total, a total of €207,389,050 was spent on patient shipments abroad and to private hospitals within Cyprus, for treatment purposes, in the period 2020-2024.
For shipments abroad, in the above period (2020-2024) €140,028,973 was spent, while for the same period, referrals to the private sector in Cyprus cost €67,360,077.
A total of 17,748 patients benefited from the above arrangements.
The above data arise from the answer of the Minister of Health, Mr. Michalis Damianos, to a question by MP Mr. Marinos Mousiouttas.
According to the data, in 2024, every month the costs for sending patients abroad amounted (on average) to €2,622,889. As it emerges from the same data, each week the expenditure for sending patients abroad amounted to, on average, €605,000.
As regards referrals to the private sector in Cyprus each week, the cost to hospitals ranged, on average, to €1,466,346 per month or €338,387 per week.
As can be seen from the data in the period under review, shipments abroad increased year after year and referrals to the private sector in Cyprus decreased.
During the period 2020 to 2024, patients were sent abroad for treatment as presented in the table below:
2020 1014 €27,039,350
2021 1000 €23,357,078
2022 1252 €29,275,434
2023 1525 €28,882,442
2024 1452 €31,474,669
The table shows that 6,243 patients were sent abroad during the above period.
As clarified in the minister's reply to Mr. Mousiouttas, the above table presents the expenses that concern only the shipments of subsidized patients and the actual expenses include invoice payments of previous years.
The total expenditure includes payments based on the European form S2, payments to private hospitals/laboratories/doctors according to the institutionalized procedures of the Subsidized Patients Sector, as well as to Closed Integrated Hospitals-State Hospitals of Greece (KEN).
The response emphasizes that the referral of patients to European Union member states is carried out as a matter of priority based on the European Regulation 883/2004 (Form S2) and concerns hospitals contracted with the National Health System of the sending country.
For the same period 2020-2024, the referrals to the private sector in Cyprus were:
2020 3372 €17,596,162
2021 3137 €16,842,943
2022 2060 €15,024,577
2023 1585 € 9,545,807
2024 1351 €8,350,588
The data show that in private hospitals in Cyprus, in the period 2020-2024, 11,505 patients were treated.
The minister clarifies that the amounts in the table refer to the expenditures incurred per year, which include invoices from previous years. The amounts have been extracted from the computerized FIMAS system and relate to incidents that could not be handled within the framework of the GHS. It is noted that the responsibility for the handling of the cases was the former director of the Ministry of Health, Mrs. Christina Giannaki.
