Six years after its launch, the national health scheme Gesy is here to stay, Health Minister Michalis Damianos said on Sunday, describing the system as the biggest reform in the health sector since the establishment of the Republic.

“A great social achievement, which we have a duty to preserve and to strengthen. The coverage of the population in Cyprus is now universal while the unmet needs for medical care are extremely low,” he said.

However, the minister said there is no room for complacency.

“We are systematically evaluating the system with the aim of continuously upgrading it and addressing weaknesses. In this context, we have promoted a series of legislation aimed at shielding Gesy. At the same time, we aim to improve the daily experience of citizens in hospitals,” he added.

“Gesy is here to stay, and this is not just a well-sounding slogan. It’s the reality. Its protection and strengthening are non-negotiable,” the minister concluded.

Earlier this week, in its six years of operation, Gesy has registered over a million beneficiaries and logged more than 21 million visits to general practitioners and roughly the same number to specialists.

The first part of the system was rolled out in June 2019.

However, the Cyprus Medical Association (CyMA) cautioned that the experience over the last six years has highlighted the universality of a system is not enough, on its own, to guarantee its success.

It said the necessary prerequisites for the functional and scientific shielding of the system are the continuous upgrade of the quality of services, the removal of systemic distortions and the resolution of technical malfunctions that afflict patients and complicate the work of doctors.

Public hospitals, it said, are the “backbone of Gesy” and should be improved by “targeted reorganisation, staffing, digital transformation and strengthening of infrastructure”.

At the same time, it added, private medicine should be utilised to complement Gesy.