The Cypriot system for assessing disability is riddled with serious shortcomings and delays, MPs warned on Tuesday after a House committee session.

Chair of the House labour committee Andreas Kavkalias said it was “unthinkable” that lifelong conditions such as congenital hearing loss are not automatically recognised as permanent disabilities.

Kavkalias said individuals born with hearing impairments are classified as having “mild” or “moderate” disabilities and are called back for reassessment.

He described this practice as unacceptable and said it reflected wider problems in how Cyprus treats people with disabilities.

The discussion was prompted by reports of delays, poor evaluations and inadequate structures in the disability and functionality assessment system.

Kavkalias highlighted concerns over the composition of medical boards, a lack of specialised doctors, and the limited number of medical professionals involved in assessments.

He also pointed to the absence of access to electronic medical records, which he said further hinders fair evaluations.

He called for the creation of a unified code of conduct and standardised protocols, legally binding for all assessment boards. This code, he said, should be developed in close cooperation with disability rights groups.

Diko MP Christos Senekis echoed these concerns and said there were cases where serious hearing disabilities were downgraded during re-evaluations, resulting in affected individuals losing access to state benefits.

He renewed a proposal for a permanent list of irreversible conditions, similar to lists used in other EU countries, to avoid what he called “a mentally exhausting cycle” of reassessments.

President of the Confederation of Disability Organisations People (Kysoa) Themis Anthopoulou also raised the issue of congenital hearing loss.

She stressed that such disabilities cannot be cured with hearing aids and warned against evaluating a person’s functionality only during the limited hours that devices like cochlear implants are operational.

“These implants must be recharged for long hours each day and only work under specific conditions,” she said.

“You cannot assess someone’s life in such narrow timeframes.”

She welcomed an upcoming dialogue with the deputy ministry of welfare, which agreed to meet Kysoa and representatives from the school for the deaf, alongside scientific experts.

Currently, state welfare is only granted to those officially classified with serious disabilities or moderate intellectual disabilities.

As Anthopoulou warned, once a disability is downgraded from “serious” to “moderate”, the person may lose their right to receive financial support.