Health minister defends role of treatment abroad after delays scrutinised

Health Minister Neophytos Charalambides said on Friday that overseas healthcare complements rather than replaces the general health system (Gesy).

Speaking at the event on patients’ rights and overseas healthcare, Charalambides said the issue carried “very concrete significance for patients and families who, in a difficult time, need to seek treatment outside our country.”

He acknowledged that Cyprus, as a “small island state”, could not reasonably develop “every highly specialised treatment domestically,” particularly for rare diseases or procedures offered only at a limited number of specialised centres abroad.

The minister said the state’s responsibility extended beyond creating mechanisms for overseas care, pointing to the national contact point as a resource providing information and guidance to patients.

The process for sending patients abroad is managed by the health insurance organisation (HIO), which took over responsibility from the health ministry eleven months ago.

Figures presented to the House health committee on Thursday showed the HIO received 1,234 requests to send patients abroad for treatment over the past year, of which 889, some 72 per cent, were approved.

The committee discussion, requested by chairwoman and Disy MP Savia Orphanidou, followed reports of delays in processing applications for treatment abroad in recent months.

Of those approved, 657 patients either travelled abroad or remain overseas receiving treatment.

HIO Director Monica Kyriakou told the committee that applications are assessed under three categories depending on urgency.

Life-threatening cases must see the patient leave for treatment within 48 hours, urgent cases must be processed within seven days, and regular cases within 30 days.

Kyriakou said Gesy doctors are responsible for submitting applications on behalf of patients and must specify the seriousness of each case when doing so.

She clarified that a rejected application does not necessarily mean a patient is ineligible for treatment abroad, remarking that some applications are completed incorrectly by the referring doctor and can be resubmitted.

A ministerial representative assured the committee that work is under way to allow the travel and accommodation costs of people accompanying patients abroad to be paid in advance, an option currently available only to vulnerable patients.