More Gesy beneficiaries visit private doctors year-on-year, data shows

The vast majority of outpatient visits to specialists and personal doctors concerns health professionals in the private sector registered under Gesy, data from the state statistical service showed on Friday.

In 2021, a staggering 7,202,579 visits by outpatient patients were recorded within the framework of the General Healthcare System (Gesy) in Cyprus. Of these visits, about 87 per cent were consultations with private sector doctors contracted with Gesy.

This marked a significant increase of almost 20 per cent compared to the previous year, when 6,016,478 visits were documented in 2020.

Likewise, 87.7 per cent of outpatient visits to specialists were with private doctors under Gesy contracts, with the remaining 12.3 per cent being visits to state health services organisation (Okypy) hospitals and health centres. In 2020, the percentages were 15.9 per cent and 84.1 per cent respectively.

The private sector is also preferred by beneficiaries for inpatient care.

Some 89,357 discharges were recorded for inpatients in 2021, of which 46 per cent were from Okypy hospitals, while 54 per cent were from private hospitals contracted with Gesy.

The highest number of discharges among inpatients was in the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, accounting for 15.7 per cent. This was followed by General Surgery with 14.9 per cent, Pathology with 12.1 per cent, Cardiology with 11.4 per cent, and Orthopaedics with 9.1 per cent.

However, state hospitals topped private health care providers in outpatient care discharges.

In 2021, there were 231,109 discharges for outpatient care, which includes patients who were admitted to the hospital, received treatment, and were discharged on the same day. Out of these discharges, 62.7 per cent were from Okypy hospitals, while 37.3 per cent were from private hospitals contracted with Gesy.

For the same period, a total of 7,326 deaths of Cyprus residents and visitors were recorded within Cyprus with the leading causes of death being diseases of the circulatory system, neoplasms, endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases. Covid-19 amounted for 8.5 per cent of the deaths in 2021 while diseases of the respiratory system for 7.2 per cent.