Filenews 31 January 2026 - by Marilena Panayi
From Monday, February 2, the new price list of medicines will be implemented, with the changes in prices affecting, as every year, the amount paid by the beneficiaries of the General Health System to private pharmacies when executing their prescriptions.
This year's price revision by the Ministry of Health (not by the HIO), on the basis of the current legislation and by it, as it is found, affected the contributions of a total of 291 medicines, out of a total of 2,419 pharmaceutical products reimbursed by the GHS.
Specifically, in 94 medicines the contribution paid by patients is decreasing and in 197 medicines the contribution is increasing.
The new price list has already been posted on both the website of the Ministry of Health and the website of the GHS and includes in detail the new prices, as well as the changes in the contributions of the beneficiaries. https://www.moh.gov.cy/moh/phs/phs.nsf/home_en/home_en?openform, or https://www.moh.gov.cy/moh/phs/phs.nsf/pricelist_en/pricelist_en
Note please that currently the up to date price list does not appear to be available in English.
The HIO clarifies that patients are not obliged to pay an increased contribution, as long as there is a cheaper drug available with the same active ingredient and the same content.
In such a case, they can ask their pharmacist to replace the prescription medicine with another equivalent preparation, for which no contribution is provided.
Accordingly, doctors have the possibility, in consultation with the patient, to prescribe the cheapest interchangeable drug without contribution, provided that they cancel the old prescriptions that are still in force and concern the previous preparation.
At the same time, pharmacists must inform beneficiaries about the possibility of changing their medicine to another equivalent, at no additional cost.
In any case, patients can continue to receive the same drug they have been taking until today, if they wish, but by paying the new, increased, contribution, in cases where the specific drug is included in the 197 products whose prices have been differentiated upwards.
