Filenews 24 July 2025 - by Marilena Panagi
On a 24-hour basis, a telephone line will operate for doctors with the Health Insurance Organization, so that there will be no delay in procedures, in cases where the life of a patient who will urgently need to be transferred to a medical center abroad is in danger.
At the Health Insurance Organization, they have picked up speed in order to complete all the necessary preparations and be able to undertake, without problems, the program of sending patients abroad from October 1st.
Until now, and on the basis of the roadmap drawn up in the context of the Organization's preparation, it has been determined how requests for the referral of patients abroad will be managed, while in collaboration with the Pancyprian Medical Association, the various scientific societies of doctors and other bodies of health professionals, the process of setting up the "expert group" that will examine the requests submitted to the Organization has also begun. HIO.
The expert group will be multi-member and will include around five representatives from each medical scientific society/specialty.
For each case, the doctors of the competent specialty will be called, depending on the patient's health problem, who will evaluate the request for a shipment abroad.
At the same time, there will be the possibility, depending on the case, to invite other health professionals of the System to participate in the evaluation process, if necessary.
The incidents, according to the decisions that have been taken, will be divided into three categories.
Those in which patients need to go abroad but are not in danger and the procedure will be completed in a period of no more than 30 days, in those that will be characterized as urgent but not life-threatening and will be served within a week, and in cases in which the patient is in danger and his transition abroad must take place within a few hours.
For life-threatening incidents, it has been decided that the competent officials of the HIO will be on standby duty on a 24-hour basis, while a specific line of communication will be defined, which will be used by doctors when a patient is in danger and needs to be transferred abroad.
Along with the officer, a head of the Organization will be on standby duty every 24 hours.
