Medical Association under investigation for potentially violating competition rules

The Commission for the Protection of Competition has decided to investigate possible violations of the law on competition by the Cyprus Medical Association (CMA), for urging its members not to join the national health scheme Gesy in 2018.

In an announcement, the Commission said the “possible, prima facie, violation relates to actions by the CMA in general, and, specifically, the decision of its general meeting of October 27, 2018, as well as its earlier and subsequent decisions” by which its leadership “called on, or urged, members not to participate in Gesy, if the conditions it had set were not accepted.”

The CMA’s decision constituted a form of “exclusion” in order to have its conditions accepted in the negotiations it was having regarding Gesy, concluded the Commission. It was also its view that the limited number of doctors (personal and specialists) that were registered with Gesy, restricted the provision of healthcare services. The small number of doctors on Gesy affected the uninterrupted provision of healthcare.

“The actions and decisions of the CMA had as their objective the obstruction, restriction or adulteration of competition, by restricting or controlling the provision of services from January 1, 2018, to June 11, 2019,” said the announcement.

Once the examination of the case is completed and the views of the CMA are heard, a documented decision will be issued about the existence or lack of a violation, said the Commission.