Healthcare

The Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) approved 932 of 1,304 requests for Gesy beneficiaries to receive medical treatment abroad in the first 12 months since it took over the process, with 24 cases classed as life-threatening and 86 as emergencies since October 2025. The average time from submitting a request to admission to a hospital abroad was 1.5 days for life-threatening cases, five days for emergencies and 22 days for non-urgent cases. Most referrals were to hospitals in Germany (28.4 per cent), followed by Greece (21.2 per cent), the United Kingdom (18.5 per cent) and Israel (11.7 per cent), and the HIO also arranged 101 medical air transfers. The referrals cover patients needing services that cannot be provided in Cyprus through Gesy within the necessary timeframe.

The Cyprus association of private hospitals (Pasin) urged fairer compensation under the national health scheme Gesy and urgent action on nursing staff shortages at its annual general assembly in Nicosia on October 8. Pasin president Dr Marios Karaiskakis said payments must reflect operating costs and ensure equal conditions for all healthcare providers. The association warned both issues affect financial sustainability and service quality, saying a strong private sector is essential to Gesy.