The health insurance organisation (HIO) will be taking over the administration of cases of patients sent abroad for treatment as of October 2, it was announced on Friday.

Beneficiaries under Gesy can submit a request to receive healthcare services abroad if they cannot be provided in Cyprus.

The HIO said circumstances justifying patients to be sent abroad were the lack of specialisation, equipment and infrastructure, or services that could not be provided within a reasonable period of time.

Requests by non-beneficiaries of Gesy will continue to be managed by the subsidised patients sector at the health ministry.

Healthcare services cannot be provided abroad if they have not been sufficiently tested and recognised as valid, are in an experimental stage, concern exclusively the administration of medication, are not recognised by mainstream medicine, concern telemedicine or are quested retrospectively. 

The subsidised patients sector will continue to manage requests for specialised laboratory tests, prosthetic limbs and ocular prostheses.

Applications are submitted by specialist doctors only.

Requests are categorised as normal incidents for which assessment is completed within a fortnight, urgent incidents to be completed within four days and life-threatening incidents to be completed within 24 hours.

The list of collaborating hospitals abroad can be found here.

Beneficiaries can also call 17000 for details or visit Gesy’s website.