Filenews 27 September 2025 - by Marilena Panayi
"I want to describe to you the adventure of my family. My father, an elderly man, was hospitalized in a private hospital of the GHS. His doctor told us that he cannot return home and that he needs to be referred for rehabilitation. We took all the necessary actions to be accepted by one of the only three rehabilitation centers that offer services through the GHS. The Center accepted us, the HIO rejected us. My father's problem is not covered by the GHS because, as we were told, it has no law and so the services are still limited. On the same day, the director of the hospital, where my father was, called me to tell me to pick up my father from the hospital within the next few hours because he needed the bed. "If it doesn't go away, I'll start charging you. The HIO told us to charge you when you don't leave." That was his threat.
To my request to give us a day or two to find a home to transport my father, because we were informed about the cooperation of the Ministry of Health with some shelters for chronic patients, he repeated that he will start charging us. We cannot afford to pay. We took our father from the hospital and took him to our own house until we found housing. We searched for information about the program of the Ministry of Health and learned that in order to be granted the €1,300, the application must be made at the time the patient is hospitalized. The hospital kicked us out. There was no one to inform us at the hospital, before they were discharged. They wanted the bed to put another patient. They only threatened us with a charge.
At first they did not know what the GHS covers and what does not cover, within which they operate and they were talking to us about rehabilitation, and then they did not think of helping us, as they should, for the actions we had to take since the application to the Ministry of Health is submitted, based on the procedures they are familiar with, by themselves. We were left hanging. Our father needs constant care, and nursing care. The GHS gives us six plus six visits per year and a limited number of physiotherapy. We need a nurse at least once a day. Homes we contacted told us that it costs around €2500-2700 per month. Even if we managed to get the grant from the Ministry of Health, the €1300 together with my father's pension, is not enough. The hospital continues to change patients in its beds." The citizen contacted the Cyprus Federation of Patients' Associations asking for help.
This particular case "is one of the dozens that reach us every month", the president of the Observatory for the Elderly Dimos Antoniou told "F", referring at the same time to the relevant complaints submitted to the Patient Observatory.
In the month of August alone, the Patient Observatory recorded five complaints concerning the elderly but also other chronic patients or people with severe disabilities who need constant care and nursing and/or medical care, in their homes or in specialized centers and are unable to obtain it.
An elderly couple contacted the Observatory asking for help. They need, as they said, all kinds of support. They asked to know about the benefits they might be entitled to receive, constantly repeating: "we are alone without any help".
In another case, a woman reported that her elderly mother suffers from dementia and her condition is deteriorating. She cannot provide her with proper care. "She needs constant and specialized care that we cannot provide her."
Another citizen, a relative of a patient with a serious chronic condition, said that the health problem faced by the person he takes care of is not covered by the GHS. He sent a letter to competent government bodies asking for support and full coverage of the patient's long-term hospitalization, in a specialized center that provides services outside the GHS. The patient is on mechanical support with serious complications and complete dependence, while the family, low-income pensioners with limited incomes, cannot cover the costs.
Psychological pressure and unbearable costs
The problem does not stop at the elderly. A citizen contacted the Patient Observatory mentioning the case of a person with a disability who had to be hospitalized in a specialized rehabilitation center, outside the GHS, which does not yet cover the problem he is facing. "Hospitalization costs are unbearable for the family. He receives some benefits but is not a beneficiary of an E.E.E. due to income criteria. But this does not mean that the family can cover the cost of private care."
Finally, a patient is being treated in a GHS rehabilitation center and the family requested an extension in order to proceed with the configuration of the house (ramps, special bathroom, etc.) so that he can return. He contacted the Observatory because the period for which his stay in the rehabilitation center had been approved had expired and the request for an extension had not been answered (until the time of submitting the complaint).
"The problem is bigger than it seems"
"This kind of complaints arrive almost daily at the Observatory for the Elderly and we try to help and properly guide the relatives of the elderly about the procedures they should follow, about the benefits they are entitled to, if they are entitled to them and about the way in which they can lead the lives of their loved ones, as much as possible, better", said Mr. Antoniou.
«Hospitals are obliged to inform citizens, especially when they ask them to leave. We are in a position to know that the Ministry's procedures are known and have been applied for years," he added.
"The lack of care structures, the complete lack of home help for the elderly, and we are not just talking about nursing care, we are talking about many other things that these people need, is something we have been fighting and shouting about for a long time. And all this does not fall only within the spectrum of the Ministry of Health or the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare. The State must make decisions. The Parliament must promote the voting of pending bills. Time has expired. The elderly, people with disabilities and the chronically ill cannot wait for us to decide. We harass and humiliate them."
