Rehabilitation centre licensing gets underway across Cyprus

Local healthpatientsTop News Rehabilitation centre licensing gets underway across Cyprus Professional Physiotherapist Working With Senior Patient In Rehabilitation Center Relevant News Rehabilitation centre licensing gets underway across Cyprus 29 July 2026 Things to do on Wednesday, July 29 29 July 2026 Yellow heat warning in effect today as temperatures reach 40°C 29 July 2026 Marilena Panayi 29 July 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Licensing of rehabilitation centres under Cyprus’s new legislation has begun, with one centre already submitting its application to the Health Ministry and a second expected to do so by the end of the week. According to the Health Ministry, eight rehabilitation centres in total have expressed interest in licensing, and Philenews understands that five of these are expected to complete their applications by August 21. All five currently operate under the legislation governing elderly care homes, in the absence of dedicated rehabilitation legislation, and belong to the Association of Rehabilitation and Recovery Centres. Once licensed, Cypriot patients would have access to around 250 additional rehabilitation beds. This depends, however, on two key conditions being met: finding the roughly 150 nurses the new centres would need to hire under the legislation, and the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) agreeing to bring more providers and rehabilitation services into the General Health System (GHS). Currently, only three centres offer rehabilitation services through GHS, with the system covering a limited number of diagnoses and, by extension, a limited number of patients. As a result, patients, including many elderly people, are often unable to access the services they need through GHS, and either pay out of pocket for private care or, if they cannot afford it, go without treatment altogether, with consequences for their health and quality of life. One example cited was a complaint submitted to the Patients’ Observatory last month, in which a citizen said patients who, after serious orthopaedic surgery, need hospitalisation and specialised rehabilitation, face a significant financial burden. “Orthopaedic rehabilitation services have not yet been included in GHS, and the state subsidy provided is not enough to cover the real cost of treatment, leaving many patients unable to secure the treatment they need,” the complaint said. The Association of Rehabilitation and Recovery Centres has had an initial contact with HIO, its representative Costas Ioulianos told Philenews, though no substantive dialogue has taken place yet, since it was decided that the five centres must first be licensed and recognised as rehabilitation centres before negotiations on GHS integration can proceed. “Integrating the centres into GHS is a very important factor, and we believe everything will develop as it should during the dialogue that will follow with HIO,” Ioulianos said. Staffing is another key factor, he said. “We need to staff the centres with nursing and other scientific personnel, because we have to meet the patient-to-professional ratios set out in the legislation. As for nurses, where there is a well-known shortage in Cyprus too, we need a total of 150 nurses to meet the requirements of the law. We hope that by the time the licensing process is complete, the necessary decisions will have been taken to make this staffing possible.” He added: “You understand that the newly licensed centres will need to significantly raise their pay scales in order to meet the requirements of the law now governing the operation of rehabilitation centres in Cyprus.” On the legislation itself, Ioulianos argued that it contains inequalities and unequal treatment between different providers. “For example, members of our Association are required to comply with all the provisions of the law within 13 years, but there is no such requirement for the three centres currently operating within GHS.” Not “every care home,” Ioulianos says Ioulianos said the fact that only members of the Association (SYKEAA) have shown interest in licensing confirms what the group had argued even before the legislation was implemented, when some had suggested, he said, in a dismissive way, that “every care home would become a centre” — a characterisation he said unfairly described centres that have served Cypriot citizens for many years. He added that the standard of the Association’s facilities is further confirmed by the fact that, in compiling their licensing files, they need to secure various suitability and safety certificates from state services, and the Association’s centres have obtained these following inspections without needing to make any changes. Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News Things to do on Wednesday, July 29 Yellow heat warning in effect today as temperatures reach 40°C Christodoulides hopes for “positive developments” after Guterres dinner Guterres meets Technical Committees: “Peace is built not only at the negotiating table” Traffic collision on Nicosia-Larnaca motorway near Athienou closes lane Federation supporters rally on both sides, with Guterres dinner underway (photos) Christodoulides departs for dinner with Guterres and Erhürman, hopes for good discussion Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.