Medical information for Cyprus

HEALTHCARE IN CYPRUS

Healthcare in Cyprus is inexpensive and constantly improving on this ambitious island. State hospitals are practically free, while private health insurance, for those who prefer it, can be obtained at a very low cost.

The medical needs of the Cyprus population are met through three systems of health services; the government health sector, the private health sector, and a number of schemes covering specific sections of the population.

Government Provision

Healthcare is provided free through government facilities to those who are eligible. The groups formally covered by this scheme are; government employees, individuals earning less than CYP£6.000, households earning less than CYP£10.000 per annum and households with more than three children. Individuals with an income between CYP£6.000 and CYP£9.000 and households with an income between CYP£10.000 and CYP£14.000 have health care provided at 50% of the prescribed rates. The range of services offered through the government health scheme is comprehensive and includes visits to general physicians, specialist consultations, inpatient stays, medical care given abroad in specialities not offered in Cyprus and all drugs prescribed.

Furthermore, medical care free of charge is provided in all cases receiving treatment at the accident and emergency departments irrespective of the economic situation or the nationality of the person involved, including visitors. However, if these cases need hospitalisation, subsequent care fees have to be paid. The hospital system has undergone substantial change over the last decade. New hospitals in Larnaca, Paphos and Limassol have been built and the building of the new Nicosia General Hospital has already started. A new hospital for Famagusta has also been planned. Government provision of health care is funded out of general taxation.

Private Health Sector

Private healthcare is open to all those who can afford to pay for their treatment. Private medicine is dominated by a large number of physicians in individual practice. A number of polyclinics have also been established in urban areas with a number of physicians offering a range of medical services.

Special Schemes

A number of special schemes cover specific sections of the population. These include: (i) Medical Services provided by the Trade Unions to the employed persons and their dependants. These services provide mostly primary health care. The above schemes use both the government and private sector whenever secondary or tertiary care services are needed, through a partial reimbursement of medical expenses. (ii) A number of employer-sponsored arrangements, all of which provide free medical care mainly through public health facilities.

Healthcare Developments

Current developments in health care technology, the ageing of the population, the increasing number of hospital beds, physicians, new laboratories and rising consumer expectations for more sophisticated and expensive medical treatment, are the characteristics of most of the health care systems in developed countries.

The demand for health care in Cyprus is increasing. The number of elderly people is low but growing and creates new service demands. Technological changes, both in terms of equipment and pharmaceuticals, is rapid. Much of this is integrated and disseminated rapidly due to commercial incentives. Some new therapies, for instance new drug treatments after the onset of heart attacks, offer significant health gains at modest cost. The problems of managing these new services in diagnosis, treatment and prevention are great.

The standard of health of the Cypriot population compares favourably with that of the population of developed countries. Cyprus has been successfully freed of common infections and parasitic diseases and the pattern of morbidity resembles that of developed industrial nations with cardiovascular diseases, malignancies and car accidents predominating as the causes of death. It should be pointed out that Cyprus has successfully eliminated malaria in the past and more recently echinococciasis, through the implementation of special campaigns. Current educational and preventive programmes are proving successful in almost eliminating the incidence of thalassaemia, which was a severe health problem. Alongside the curative services offered by the public and private sectors, the public services - in co-operation with other Ministries and the Municipal Authorities - are concerned with the provision of preventative health services in the form of health education, inoculations, control of epidemics and infectious diseases, the disposal of sewage, the control of the quality of drinking water, food etc.

While the private sector is mainly concentrated in the urban areas, the public health services provide adequate coverage for the rural areas, ensuring accessibility through a network of rural hospitals, rural health centres, sub-centres and dispensaries. These services are staffed with doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, health inspectors and health visitors who ensure the provision of comprehensive services.

It is well known that health standards depend not only on the availability of health resources, such as hospitals, doctors and nurses, but also on general environmental conditions. Cyprus has been fortunate to have a mild temperate climate while the absence of heavy industry has meant that air pollution has been limited. In addition to this the standard of education and early attempts at provision of piped water, sewage disposal and good sanitation ensure the right hygienic environment.

Indeed the standard of health of the Cypriot population can be considered quite high. Already expectancy of life at birth has reached 80,4 years for women and 75,3 years for men. Infant mortality rates have been successfully contained to 4,9 per thousand of population. The crude death rate stands at 6,9 per thousand of population.

Healthcare Reform

The reform of the health care sector is a high priority of government health policy. The present system of health care has for long been criticised for the fragmentation of services, the lack of co-ordination between the public and private health sector, the lack of equity in its financing and in general its inability to respond to the expectations of the population.

On 20 April 2001, the House of Representatives enacted a law for the introduction of a National Health System (NHS), which will provide health care free at the time of delivery. It will be universal as regards population coverage and will be financed by contributions from the state, the employers, the employees, the self-employed, the pensioners and all those who have non-employment incomes.

The NHS will be administered by the Health Insurance Organisation, a public law body managed by a tripartite Board. The Organisation will purchase health services from the Government and private medical institutions and services.

Healthcare News

European Health Insurance Card: A common European health insurance card will replace all the current paper forms needed for health treatment in another Member State. The health card will simplify and speed up procedures but not change EU citizens' existing rights and obligations. First and foremost, it will be European citizen who will benefit from the new single and personalised card because it will facilitate temporary stays abroad, initially holidays. The use of the European health insurance card involves three main parties: the insured, the service provider (e.g. doctors, hospitals) and the social security institutions that of the country of registration and that of the place of stay. All three parties will benefit from the card. The card will initially replace form E 111 which covers you while on holidays or business trips in another EU Member State but it will subsequently replace all other forms used for temporary stays abroad by posted workers, truckers, students and job seekers.

The insured will be the main beneficiaries of the new card, as they will no longer have to apply to the relevant institution in their home country for a new form before each temporary stay in another Member State. The paperwork involved in visits to the doctor or hospital abroad will be minimised. The care providers will no longer receive forms which are incomplete, illegible or incomprehensible as they do at present. Standardising the fields of the card with visible data will mean that the care provider has immediate access to clearer, more legible data. Transfer to an electronic system will simplify procedures further. Social security institutions will also profit from the clearer data on the card. Having the same categories of insured persons in each Member State will simplify administration of reimbursement between institutions still further.

The Commission merely intends to ensure interoperability between the national systems, because health insurance card systems are highly diverse in the Member States. The Commission does not intend to attempt harmonisation of the technologies or functions that are associated with the national cards. Their functions range widely from serving solely to identify the insured in some Member States to others where the function of cards extends far beyond the field of social security and includes medical emergency data or access to public services. The focus on interoperability appears thus the best option if our aim is to co-ordinate Member States social security schemes.

A common model with a distinctive European symbol is needed to ensure immediate recognition of the card by all those involved in the health system, irrespective of where the cardholder is staying. To guarantee that the card is readable, the Commission suggests that the obligatory information should be cut down to the essential information. The presentation of this data must be standardised to enable it to be read, irrespective of the user's language, by superimposing fields. Initially the card will carry visible information, but it is designed to become an electronic card later on. Member States are free to decide on the validity period of the cards, which they themselves issue, but their institutions will have to reimburse the competent institution of the country of stay for all care dispensed on the basis of a valid card. Also, the issuing country will be responsible for taking all necessary measures to combat fraud and abuse. These precautions will guarantee legal certainty and the credibility of the card. The card can either be combined with any national health insurance card, where this exists, or be a stand-alone card. The card can be distributed to all citizens of the Member State or only to those who apply for it, i.e. those wishing to stay temporarily in another Member State.

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