The implementation of a General Healthcare System (GHS) in Cyprus commonly referred to as GESY has been for a long time a major talking point amongst the politicians and the wider Cypriot community in general. The original GHS legislation was passed in 2001 but the first phase of GHS only commenced in June 2019.
For the implementation of GHS, a special fund was established that originates from the contributions of the Republic of Cyprus tax payers and the state, and from which all payments to providers of healthcare services will be made. The GHS is managed by the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) whose mission is to “implement the GHS, a people-centred system reflective of modern thinking and practices, which is based on the principles of social solidarity, justice and universality, both in regards to contributions and coverage”.
Like in the UK, every citizen is registered with a general practitioner or family doctor and can only be seen by them. If a patient requires specialist input, their family doctor will issue a referral to the appropriate specialty. The patient will then be able to choose the specialist themselves from a list of specialty doctors registered with the GHS. The consultation with the family doctor is free and that with the specialist requires a modest additional contribution in the range of €8-10.
The first phase of GSH commenced in June 2019 and this covered the provision of outpatient healthcare services to the public. This included outpatient consultations with the family doctor and specialists as well as outpatient procedures and investigations. The former may include an excision of a lump under local anaesthesia (i.e. not requiring general anaesthetic and hospitalisation) and the latter include imaging such as ultrasound or MRI as well as laboratory studies such as blood tests.
In June 2020, the GHS entered the second and final phase which incorporated the rest of the healthcare services, primarily the inpatient care. The patients are therefore able to access free inpatient care which might include hospital admission for a medical or surgical intervention. This will only be possible in hospitals registered with the GHS. At the time of commencement of the second phase, most private hospitals were participating in the GHS. Along with the public hospitals, they accounted for roughly 80% of all hospital beds in Cyprus.
The GHS is a major social and political reform. Potential problems are likely to arise in the beginning but its feasibility and viability will need to be evaluated over time.
https://www.gesy.org.cy/sites/Sites?d=Desktop&locale=en_US&lookuphost=/en-us/&lookuppage=home-en
