Filenews 11 July 2025 - by Marilena Panagi
Recently, several beneficiaries of the System have been excluded from the General Health System, resulting in some of them finding themselves in a very difficult position since they need urgent medical care which they cannot ensure if they do not first submit certificates that will help their re-registration.
Most of the beneficiaries who have been deleted from the System are citizens of third countries, whose status of residence in Cyprus has changed, but the biggest problem and confusion is observed in the cases of European citizens who are on the island legally, many of them for decades, are employees or pensioners, but in some cases their "indications" in the Social Insurance Department have changed, resulting in are deleted from the GHS and need, according to regulations, to be re-registered.
Indicative are the examples, mainly of Greeks, who have been deleted from the GHS, without even knowing it since, as it is established, they did not receive or ignored the e-mails sent to them by the Health Insurance Organization in the previous period.
A typical case is the case of a Greek man who has been living in Cyprus for several decades, is married to Cypriot women, and was informed by his personal doctor that he is no longer a beneficiary of the GHS, when he had to undergo specialized treatment.
In the second case, also a Greek, he appealed to the Patient Observatory of the Federation of Cyprus Patients' Associations, denouncing his deletion from the GHS without warning. In this case, too, the patient was informed that he was no longer a beneficiary of the GHS by his doctor, he proceeded with the necessary procedures for his re-registration, however, in the meantime he needed hospitalization and was called by the hospital that served him to pay for the services he received, since until that moment he was still not a beneficiary of the System.
As the director of the HIO, Maria Kythreotou, explained to "F", the deletion of beneficiaries from the GHS takes place when the status of a person changes, something that mainly concerns non-Cypriot nationals and needs to be submitted new certificates. There are cases of third-country nationals whose residence permit on the island expires or their residence status in Cyprus changes. However, there are also cases of individuals, including European citizens, whose "indication" in the Social Insurance Department is changed. For example, an employee who retires, etc.
"When some data that are recorded in the Social Insurance Department change, the individual must proceed with some procedures and promote his re-registration with the GHS."
In the past period, said Ms. Kythreotou, "the HIO has sent e-mails informing all affected beneficiaries. It seems that some have either not seen the e-mails sent to them, or have not activated their accounts in the System, have not updated their data, such as their e-mail address, and therefore the information from the HIO has not reached them". The non-activation of accounts and the non-updating of data, said Ms. Kythreotou, is an issue that very often concerns the HIO and invited citizens "especially those who did not register with the GHS on their own and therefore may not have their own e-mail address, or have changed their e-mail address and have not proceeded with the necessary change and their account to do so in order to they are informed in a timely manner about anything that concerns them and messages are sent to them by the HIO".
