Almost seven years, two governments, five ministers of health, three different directors and two different presidents in the OAU, one professional association and endless consultation. Patients, the majority of whom are children, continue to pay out of pocket to secure occupational therapy services.
"The time has come to speak with the language of truth," the secretary of the Cyprus Federation of Patients' Associations, Charalambos Papadopoulos, told "F" in a rather strong style. "Some probably do not want the current situation to change, some others believe that the issue can continue to be pending and some simply give time to time because they do not want to get involved in the middle of the disagreement that has lasted for years and traps patients. Because this is the truth, which, otherwise, is hidden behind the well-understood interest of patients."
Finally, said the secretary of OSAK, "everyone should assume their responsibilities. Every time limit has been exceeded. We are not talking about 100 or 200 or 1000 patients. We are talking about thousands of people who each need occupational therapy for a different reason. Imagine being a parent, your child needs occupational therapy, the GHS offering occupational therapy only on paper and you pay out of your own pocket for a service that you should normally receive for free. For almost seven years now, patients, children, have been suffering, left without the treatment they need or are forced to pay out of their own pockets, because professionals, the Health Insurance Organization and the Ministry of Health have not been able to reach an agreement between them."
The professionals, he continued, "claim as much as they can, the HIO gives over and over again financial proposals that are rejected, disagreements are recorded about which services will be included in the GHS with the relevant list having been adjusted, we do not know how many times to date and since last April we have been waiting for the last proposal to be studied and for a new meeting to be scheduled by the Ministry of Health".
Everyone, of course, he added, "invokes the interest of the patients. We wonder, therefore, whether it is in the interest of patients, children who need occupational therapy and their families, to have a budget in the GHS and for them to continue to pay out of their own pockets. We wonder if it is in the interest of the children, who are thousands of these children, to be absent from their school to ensure the services they need in the public sector or to be stacked to ensure the services they need from the public sector because only there will they receive them through the General Health System."
As OSAK, said Mr. Papadopoulos, "we had given last autumn time until January 2026. We are in mid-July 2026. Since last April we have not had any information. Patients are still paying or suffering or not receiving the services they need. In all the previous years, we had communication and consultation with all sides. We tried to make our intervention. We tried to reduce the difference that existed between HIO and professionals. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we tried, the process is, once again, stalled and we have no information and no indication that it will end up anywhere."
The Federation, he said, "will take its decisions on further measures, after first receiving information from the Ministry of Health on the status of the process that we have been waiting for three months to proceed. In the face of this impasse," said Mr. Papadopoulos, "some patient associations are promoting the necessary procedures in order to employ occupational therapists to offer services through the GHS."
Red line
"We can no longer accept this pending issue. The start of the provision of occupational therapy services in the GHS is imperative and the setting of strict timetables for the full integration of occupational therapy services into the System is a red line for OSAK. Each of the bodies involved should assume their responsibilities towards patients because the interest of patients is not just a line that we can use simply and in any case."
At the end of 2025, time had been given until January 9
Efforts to reach an agreement between HIOs and occupational therapists have been made from 2020 until today by five different Ministers of Health, two governments. Since then, the HIO has changed three directors and two presidents. At the end of 2025 and after the issue had been heavily publicized after the positions of professionals who expressed their own positions, the then Minister of Health Michalis Damianos had given the competent Association until January 8 to respond.
Last April there was mobility again. The HIO prepared another proposal and put it before the competent Association on the condition that a new meeting between the parties involved be studied and scheduled by the Ministry of Health. "Since then, as OSAK, we have not had any information. Months go by and the situation does not change."
