MPs on Thursday agreed to let the government keep covering the deficits of the state health services organisation (Okypy) until the end of next year, apparently satisfied with the organisation’s promise to fulfill an action plan.
What this means is that state hospitals – run by Okypy – will not become financially autonomous this year either.
Okypy was supposed to have become fully self-funding by May 2025, but had got an extension. Now it has received another one.
The matter was discussed at the House health committee, whose members agreed that Okypy should continue receiving financial support from the state.
Lawmakers gave the thumbs-up to a government plan to keep propping up Okypy until the end of 2026.
Making his pitch to MPs, Kypros Stavrinides, the organisation’s executive director, said they are not asking for “a blank cheque”.
Rather, he noted, Okypy seeks more time to implement an action plan launched back in 2024.
He argued that the Covid pandemic had set back the organisation’s plans.
Continued state support for Okypy would ensure that the general health system (Gesy) does not get derailed, he said.
He also dismissed the notion that state hospitals are in bad shape, claiming that visitations have rebounded, returning to 2019 levels.
On his part, committee chair Efthymios Diplaros (Disy) said that during the session Okypy officials provided satisfactory answers to a series of queries made by MPs.
It was also important that Okypy acknowledges the problems it faces, “and this is a positive, as when you recognize what’s wrong you can fix things”.
The decision to continue financing Okypy’s deficits was taken by the cabinet in late May of this year.
At the time, Health Minister Michalis Damianos stated that the organisation’s deficit for 2025 was estimated at €40 million, and another €30 million for 2026.
Part of this funding was being covered from the Recovery and Resilience Fund.
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