Grace period expected for private doctors within Gesy

The Health Insurance Organisation – the agency running the national health system or Gesy – was on Monday expected to receive instructions to give a three-day grace period to those doctors who are not part of Gesy but who continue working out of private hospitals that are part of the system.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, within the day the HIO would be receiving instructions from the health ministry allowing this group of doctors to keep operating in Gesy hospitals until Thursday.

Under a health ministry decree issued earlier, these doctors – about 20 – should either join Gesy themselves, or else vacate the hospital premises by October 31.

The 20 doctors engage in private practice out of private hospitals registered with the national health system. In order to ensure uniformity in terms of the monetary transactions carried out at Gesy hospitals, the government wants them out. Alternatively the doctors can continue operating out of these hospitals if they apply to join Gesy.

Doctors who themselves are not part of Gesy may no longer provide inpatient care at these hospitals. Inpatient care is defined as a patient being admitted and spending at least one night in a hospital, or the use of specialised medical infrastructure located within the healthcare facility.

The reported three-day extension, allowing the 20 doctors to stay until November 3, coincides with an upcoming ruling by a court – expected on Thursday.

On November 3, the court will decide whether it will issue an interim order suspending the implementation of the governmental decree relating to this group of doctors, until such time as it definitively rules on the matter.

Should the court issue the injunction, the doctors in question will be able to stay on at the hospitals until the court’s final ruling. If the court does not grant the requested injunction, the doctors would have to vacate the premises immediately.

The Cyprus News Agency contacted the director of the Health Insurance Organisation asking whether he had received the new instructions from the health ministry. He said he had not, but added he would not “see a problem” with granting the 20 doctors a three-day extension.

The 20 affected doctors argue that when the HIO and the private hospitals entered into a memorandum – by which the hospitals joined the national health system – there was nothing in that agreement that precluded them from engaging in private practice at these hospitals.

But subsequently, the attorney-general issued an opinion deeming as illegal the continued operation of these private-practice doctors within Gesy-registered hospitals.

The affected doctors want the matter cleared up once and for all, as they do not wish to be held hostage to conflicting legal interpretations.

Parliament has also become involved, with MPs drafting a legislative proposal that would allow these 20 individuals – and only them – to keep practising at their hospitals until their retirement.