Filenews 10 December 2025 - by Marilena Panayi
The Ministry of Health gave an ultimatum to occupational therapists until January 9, attempting to put an end to the saga of their integration into the General Health System. At the same time, organized patients are raising the tone and sending a strict message to both this group of professionals and the Health Insurance Organization, calling on them "to think about Cypriot patients and children who need services but cannot provide them through the GHS, because of their disagreements and their inability to reach an agreement for six years." In fact, the president of the Cyprus Federation of Patients' Associations also turned his gaze to the new Minister of Health, expressing the hope "that he will continue from where his predecessor left off and not start the effort from the beginning".
Last week, the Ministry of Health sent a letter to the professional association of occupational therapists, pointing out that since last May it has been waiting for its proposals for the integration of its members into the General Health System. In fact, as pointed out in the letter, from August to the end of September, four reminders have been sent without any response being given so far.
For its part, the Cyprus Federation of Patients' Associations, which met specifically for this issue, also took its decisions with its president, Charalambos Papadopoulos, stating to "F" that "finally both the professionals and the Health Insurance Organization must find a way to reach an agreement. It is not possible six years after the implementation of the GHS and while occupational therapy is offered, on paper, through the System, entire families suffer, parents pay out of their own pockets to ensure the services their children need and adults are forced to turn only to public hospitals where occupational therapists, civil servants can serve them."
The letter from the Ministry of Health (signed by the former Minister of Health, Michalis Damianos), was sent to the steering committee of the association of occupational therapists on December 5 and states: "Following our meeting on 6/5/2025, during which I had invited you to submit in writing your positions and proposals regarding the full integration of occupational therapy services into the General Health System within one month, as well as our letters dated 6/8/2025, 29/9/2025, 30/9/2025 and 11/11/2025, please send us your positions on the matter by 9/1/2026". In addition, the letter stated, "I invite you to attend, together with representatives of the Health Insurance Organization, a meeting that will take place on Tuesday, 13/01/2026, at 12:00, on the 9th floor of the Ministry of Health, to discuss your proposals. Your presence is considered particularly important for the promotion of the relevant procedures and the making of the required decisions."
The change of Minister of Health has caused particular concern to OSAK, with Mr. Papadopoulos expressing the hope that "the new Minister will continue from where Michalis Damianos left off, because this issue concerns several thousand citizens, including many children and the situation cannot remain as it is".
The HIO was waiting for you
The Health Insurance Organization, according to information from "F", is in a wait-and-see attitude as, after the intervention of the Ministry of Health last spring, it is waiting for the submission of the proposal of the occupational therapists in order to return to the dialogue behind the scenes to bring the Organization ready to put water in its wine in order for the specific professionals to join the GHS. In its last public statement, at the end of last October, the HIO referred to the meetings and negotiations to date with the association of occupational therapists but also to its proposals from time to time, which were not accepted by the professionals. He informed, at the same time, that he is working on additional options to expand the occupational therapy services provided in the GHS.
"Families are suffering and citizens are paying out of their own pockets"
It is recalled that due to the failure to reach an agreement between the HIO and occupational therapists, only professionals working in the State Health Services Organization are included in the General Health System. "In addition to the fact that their number is very small in relation to the needs, their working hours cause problems, especially for the children who are in their schools at those hours," explained the president of OSAK. This, he said, "results in parents being forced, whether they can afford it or not, to pay out of their own pockets privately to ensure the services their children need outside the GHS from private occupational therapists."
The problem, added Mr. Papadopoulos, "extends to adults. Think of how many adults need the services of occupational therapists and they are all obliged to turn to the public sector to secure them. Not everyone can be served within the working hours of the public service for sure and, at the same time, not everyone can pay out of their own pocket, enough from their pension to ensure the specific services outside the GHS."
"It is unacceptable," said the president of OSAK, "that there is a budget for the specific services in the GHS, that occupational therapy is offered by the GHS, that we have a satisfactory number of professionals in Cyprus, but that citizens pay out of their own pockets or suffer because the two sides, HIO and the association, have not managed to reach an agreement between them for six years."
As OSAK, he reminded, "we had made an effort in the past to bridge the differences between them, but, unfortunately, we only got promises. Now, the situation has reached the point of no return. The associations-members of OSAK who represent categories of patients who need to be served by occupational therapists are pushing every day to solve the problem."
On the part of occupational therapists, in October, on the occasion of Occupational Therapy Day, reference was made to 100,000 citizens, children and adults, who need occupational therapy. For this reason, the professionals are asking the HIO to draw up a plan that responds, as they claim, to the real needs of the beneficiaries of the GHS.
