MPs flag gap in scheme for patients needing further treatment abroad

Local ghshealthhioTop News MPs flag gap in scheme for patients needing further treatment abroad Image 222 Relevant News MPs flag gap in scheme for patients needing further treatment abroad 18 September 2026 Christodoulides takes new proposals to New York to try to unblock Cyprus talks 18 September 2026 Things to do on Friday, September 18 18 September 2026 Marilena Panayi 18 September 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Patients who have already been treated abroad sometimes hit a wall when their doctors say they need to return for follow-up care. In some cases, they cannot find a GHS doctor in Cyprus willing to file the new request with the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO), MPs and patient representatives said. The gap was raised by MPs and patient representatives during discussion of the overseas patient referral scheme at the parliamentary Health Committee. The HIO acknowledged such cases have been recorded, but said a specific procedure exists for doctors to follow. The HIO does not ask a doctor in Cyprus to give a medical opinion on a specialised treatment they have no knowledge of; the doctor can instead submit the request by attaching the report and recommendations from the medical team abroad. How the process works HIO director Monika Kyriakou explained that all requests are submitted electronically by GHS doctors. If a patient is still abroad and needs an extended stay or additional treatment, the hospital treating them can submit the request directly to the HIO. The process is different once a patient has returned to Cyprus and needs to travel again: in that case, the request must come from their treating doctor in Cyprus, who must be a GHS doctor. “There are cases where they can’t find a doctor willing to take responsibility for submitting the request,” Kyriakou acknowledged. However, she said a patient with a serious or chronic condition should have a doctor monitoring them in Cyprus too. “A personal doctor can’t submit a request for a patient over an issue they know nothing about,” she said. She clarified that the assessment from abroad is accepted by the HIO and submitted together with the request: “Even where the doctor doesn’t have the expertise, the medical reports and assessments from doctors abroad are accepted as part of the request.” In every case, she said, “each patient also needs a doctor in Cyprus monitoring their condition.” A child’s case in Germany DISY MP Giorgos Pamboridis described the case of a child born with a congenital condition who was sent to Germany. It took about a year to reach a diagnosis, after which the child was placed on a kidney transplant list. The transplant took place when the child was around three and a half years old. The child is still monitored as an outpatient today, travelling to hospital three times a week for tests and treatment, and is expected to remain in Germany for another year to a year and a half. Pamboridis said no doctor in Cyprus without substantial contact with the team abroad would easily take on signing off a request for such a complex case. He suggested each such file should be assigned to an HIO specialist, who would liaise with the treating doctors, confirm the details and see the process through. “This isn’t something parents should have to do. These people are utterly lost when they’re going through this ordeal,” he said. Patients left in the dark over rejections A second aspect of the problem was raised by Pambos Papadopoulos, secretary of the Federation of Cyprus Patient Associations, and by MPs on the committee. Papadopoulos said that when a request to send a patient abroad is rejected, the negative response is sent to the doctor, and in some cases its content is passed on to the patient differently or incompletely. As a result, the patient may only learn that “the HIO rejected” them, without being told the reasons. A case recently in the news The committee also discussed a case that had recently become public after the patient’s family sent an open letter, raised specifically to ask what happens when doctors abroad recommend continuing treatment but HIO experts decide otherwise. The patient was referred to a treatment centre abroad by the Health Ministry before October 1, 2025, and the HIO, on the recommendation of its panel of experts, decided she should return to Cyprus. That decision ultimately led the family to cover the costs of her stay abroad themselves, it was said at Wednesday’s session. Patients’ Advocate Marios Charalambides raised the case at the session. He said it is not enough to simply ask the family to return to Cyprus; they need to know which centre to turn to, what services they will receive, and how continuity of care will be ensured. Responding on the specific case, Kyriakou said the HIO had approved two extensions after the Health Ministry’s original approval expired, along with additional services. The final request was rejected by a panel of experts, who found, based partly on reports from the doctors abroad, that the patient’s progress had been minimal to non-existent. An objection followed, along with a fresh assessment by a second panel of experts, which reached the same decision. The patient was informed of the decision through the hospital that had submitted the request. Kyriakou explained that the HIO had not yet contacted the patient about her return, as it had not been informed she was able to travel by air. 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