Filenews 21 December 2025 - by Marilena Panayi
The difficulty of citizens to secure dental services due to cost, the charges for changing wounds or for administering injectable drugs and the non-existence of home services to facilitate patients who cannot move, were included in the complaints recorded by the Patients' Rights Observatory in November. On the list are the shortages of medicines for specific groups of patients as well as the delay in the approval of requests submitted by doctors for the administration of specialized treatments.
The amounts that citizens are asked to pay for services that are characterized by providers as "additional" and are not covered by the General Health System, were of course not the first time reported by citizens to the Observatory of the Cyprus Federation of Patients' Associations.
In November, according to OSAK, a citizen who was injured in an accident at work and underwent surgery reported that "he was asked to visit the hospital three times a week to clean the wound. During his visits, he was asked to pay a certain amount of money each time for the service he received."
In the second case, as OSAK states on its official website, "a patient, on the recommendation of the attending physician, made an appointment for surgical breast removal for medical reasons in a hospital, 1 year later. She was initially informed that the operation was approved, however, because she did not fully meet the criteria, she would have to pay an additional amount of money to perform the operation. When the date of the appointment approached and she completed all the required medical examinations, she was informed that her participation fee had increased significantly. Sh was forced to cancel the scheduled surgery because she was unable to cover the cost."
Another complaint concerned the inability of a chronic patient to go to a vaccination center to be vaccinated. The patient's wife, who is a person with dementia, stated that "vaccinations are carried out only on a specific day and during the communication she had with the hospital to inform in advance about their attendance, she requested that the vaccination be carried out in the car, as her husband's movement to the vaccination site is extremely difficult and dangerous. Nevertheless, she was informed that her request cannot be satisfied due to understaffing of the department."
The high cost of dental services and the long wait that exists in the public sector was referred to by a citizen who claimed that he tried to arrange an appointment with a public dentist and was given dates "about two months later". The citizen pointed out that the delay in the public sector "combined with the high costs in the private sector, significantly hinders the access of citizens to the services they need".
As far as medicines are concerned, patients' complaints concerned different aspects. The prolonged shortage of pharmaceutical preparations administered to patients with Ulcerative Colitis and Crown Disease stands out among the citizens' reports to the OSAK Observatory. As mentioned, "this shortage has been observed for some time, while the available generic does not seem to fully cover the needs of all patients. The issue has caused complaints from patients and members of relevant patient organizations."
Regarding specialized treatments, a citizen stated that a request was submitted by his personal doctor for pre-approval of the drug he receives for the continuation of his treatment. " Despite the fact that the stipulated period of 30 days has elapsed, the pre-approval had not been issued (until the moment of submission of the complaint).
Issues related to the inconvenience of patients in hospital pharmacies during the execution of their prescriptions as well as inadequate health services, were also included, for another month, in the complaints recorded by the Patient Observatory.
