State doctors may boycott Gesy system over insurance dispute

Government hospitals could effectively grind to a halt as of January 1, 2024 because state doctors will have no access to the Gesy (general healthcare system) computer system to order medical tests or issue prescriptions.

The state doctors union Pasyki has called on its members not to file their professional license to the Health Insurance Organisation – the agency running Gesy – in January.

As a formality, doctors need to re-file their professional license at the beginning of each calendar year. If they do not, they lose access to the Gesy system – meaning they cannot order tests for patients or issue prescriptions.

The state doctors have decided not to re-file their license for 2024, as a means of strong-arming the state health services organisation (Okypy) into giving them occupational insurance – something they’ve been demanding for some time.

Pasyki says the lack of occupational insurance coverage violates both the law as well as their rights as professionals.

The doctors had carried out a 24-hour strike over the same issue back in May. Following the strike action, Okypy – with whom the doctors are contracted – had put in place a temporary arrangement, promising to definitively resolve the matter by December.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Pasyki head Sotiris Koumas said that doctors employed at government hospitals – either by secondment or under Okypy contracts – are not considered medical providers. The medical provider is Okypy, and the doctors are registered with it.

“It just cannot be that after five years of having Gesy, doctors working in the public sector still lack this insurance cover,” Koumas said.

He said that unless the matter is resolved, come January 1 the doctors will go to work but – being locked out of the Gesy system – they won’t be able to provide some key services.