Filenews 11 July 2025 - by Marilena Panagi
Shortly before 2 a.m., the amendment of the GHS legislation was voted in order to regulate the procedure for sending patients abroad for services that are not offered in Cyprus by the System. At the same time, the Parliament voted an amendment that regulates the coverage, from the GHS Fund, of beneficiaries who receive services from health centers and doctors from European Union countries. This amendment was deemed necessary in order for the health system of Cyprus to function in the context of the cross-border care implemented by the health systems of the other EU Member States.
With the adoption of the two amendments, the Health Insurance Organization can proceed, without any problems, in its preparations in order to undertake and implement from October 1 all the relevant programs that have been implemented by the Ministry of Health to date.
During the discussion of the amendments in the Plenary Session of the Parliament, inevitably, once again MPs, namely Averoff Neophytou of DISY and Marinos Sizopoulos of EDEK, reiterated the positions that they have developed several times in the past from the floor of the Parliament.
"Now we will vote for something that is our obligation to vote. That is, if a Cypriot insured person in the GHS delays in receiving the services he needs from the HIO, he will go abroad and the HIO will transfer the amount he would have paid to Cyprus. What we are voting on now, however, we refuse to allow so that the same beneficiary can go to a doctor or a hospital that is not part of the GHS in Cyprus," said Averoff Neophytou.
EDEK MP Marinos Sizopoulos brought back the issue of the prescription of medicines within the GHS by doctors outside the System (an issue that ended a few months ago after a relevant amendment to the GHS law). "This bill has two aspects. One is the coverage of the costs on the basis of the price that would be covered in Cyprus if a patient were to go abroad and the second point, which is the most dangerous. In case the patient cannot be provided with care in Cyprus within a reasonable period of time, he/she will be able to travel abroad to receive treatment. Why can't it go outside the GHS in Cyprus and apply the same?", he said at the same time.
AKEL MP Christos Christofias responded to the two MPs, explaining that "the amendment provides for the transfer of the program for sending patients abroad by the Ministry of Health and the coverage of care (to the extent that it would also be covered in Cyprus) by the HIO when the patient receives services within the EU from providers that are integrated into the health system of their country".
"These are two things that are still being done today by the Ministry of Health and today we are voting for their transfer to the HIO," he said.
Much more forceful in his position was the parliamentary representative of AKEL, Giorgos Loukaidis, who pointed out that "Mr. Sizopoulos and Mr. Neophytou are once again attempting to overthrow the philosophy of the GHS. They don't get tired of doing it, but neither will I ever get tired of defending the philosophy of the System."
