The General Healthcare System (GeSY), introduced by Cyprus in June 2019, currently covers all the country’s residents and does not require co-payments to beneficiaries. The new system of health care is a combination of the National Health Service and a Social Health Insurance scheme. Which is funded by the contributions of beneficiaries and employers, and the state budget. The providers are both in the contracted private sector and the public sector. The benefits package under GeSY is extensive and covers a vast number of health services. GeSY has resulted in an expansion of health coverage and the availability of health providers. And out-of-pocket spending by households has dropped significantly (45% in 2018, one of the highest in the EU, 18% in 2020 and 10% in 2021).
Strengthening the health workforce and access under GeSY in Cyprus
The system in Cyprus is physician-centred, and human resources in health planning are making progress towards improving the situation. There are also a lot of physicians in Cyprus, and fewer nurses than in the EU overall. There are, however, shortages recorded in the number of general practitioners (GPs), and the number of nursing professionals who have been graduating in the local universities has dwindled in the past 5 years. The workforce imbalances between the public and private sectors are serious because doctors work in the private sector and nurses in the public sector. With the current development of the Capacity Master Plan (CMP), these imbalances in the distribution and availability are likely to be reduced. The second support pillar of this project is to reinforce Human Resources for Health (HRH) Planning. Such as the creation of an HRH plan and models of workforce planning to identify a future workforce that can be expected to respond to demand. The GeSY has introduced many changes in the organisation and the delivery of primary care. The country has a good network of health facilities, and they are easily accessible to healthcare services. Personal doctors under the GeSY have become the initial entry point of the patient into health services and have a gatekeeping role, i.e. the patient can only access specialists through referral. Nonetheless, the statistics reflect a rather high rate of specialist referrals, which are both costly and operationally problematic. Patients are free to select both the public and private sector personal doctors, and the doctors are paid remuneration per patient based on the age category of the registered beneficiaries. Personal doctors have led to a significant decrease in the unmet needs of medical care, which is 1.4 percent in 2018, 0.4 percent in 2020, and 0.1 percent in 2022.
Barriers to quality and efficiency in the evolving Cypriot health system
The quality and effectiveness of the new health care system cannot be evaluated in detail, as there is no information available yet. Preventable and treatable mortality data show that health outcomes are good in Cyprus, and Cyprus delivers a good overall level of health care. Nevertheless, smoking, obesity (this is done especially to children), dangerous driving, and some other unhealthy lifestyles are risk factors which still have to be addressed. Cyprus is also at the back foot of other countries in Europe in regards to quality indicators like health care-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In general, the health system performance is not yet assessed since there is no systematic gathering of information on the quality of care. To enhance the quality and efficiency of care and the financial sustainability of GeSY, there are a number of challenges to meet.
Some of the challenges and areas of development that the GeSY is encountering in the future include: reorganisation and reform of the public hospitals. And this will see the public hospitals gain administrative and financial autonomy. Implementation of the university clinics in the public hospitals; introduction and utilisation of e-health. Such as the electronic health record, management of data warehousing and utilization of bio information; the design and functioning of the Capacity Master Plan of Health; the incorporation of quality and performance measure in the compensation mechanisms of GeSY providers; and the introduction of medical and therapeutic protocols and guidelines to assist in the enhancement of quality of services and the efficiency of medical procedures.
Private healthcare
Cyprus has very good private healthcare that is available on a pay basis.
All districts are provided with private hospitals, medical centres, polyclinics, clinics, and doctors’ surgeries. There are several specialisations, in addition to general medicine and surgery, which are located in the private hospitals, centres, and polyclinics. Accident and Emergency Departments, laboratories and their ambulance service are present in some of them. In addition, some facilities focus on one or two specialisations that include paediatrics, eye, gynaecology and fertility or fertility and IVF.
Health insurance
Cyprus offers an extensive range of health insurance cover and also accepts the International Health Insurance plans. Health insurance for travellers (or tourists) is too.
Pharmacies
Cyprus has a lot of pharmacies which are very professional. The law requires them to be registered with the Pharmacy Board (Ministry of Health) and to be run by registered pharmacists. They operate on a regular working basis, although there are a couple of night pharmacies to cater to late nights, holidays and weekends. These pharmacies at night operate on a district-by-district basis and on a rotational basis. The list of night pharmacies is renewed every day.
You can view these posts:
Things to know before immigrating to Cyprus
Moving to Cyprus: Full relocation guide
Cost of living in Cyprus
