Paphos People

More and more patients switching to private healthcare
While not ditching the general health system (Gesy) per se, people are getting increasingly fed up with delays in public hospitals, and turning to private healthcare facilities instead. And despite barely affording it, many Gesy payees have kept private health insurance as backup.

There’s strong anecdotal evidence for this trend but it’s also supported by hard data. In a special report on the state health services organisation (Okypy), the Audit Office said that between 2019 and 2021 state-run hospitals lost customers by the boatload – 19 per cent in inpatients, 44 per cent in outpatients.

Okypy itself blames this on the exodus of a couple of hundred doctors, seeking greener pastures in the private sector, as well as the Covid pandemic that disrupted operations and revenue streams.

But the Audit Office was having none of it. During a recent session of the House watchdog committee, auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides said the pandemic cannot not be used as “an alibi for everything.”

That exchange happened after Okypy head Marios Panagides said the organisation might seek an extension of anywhere from one to three years for state grants to public hospitals. Under the Gesy law, June of 2024 is the cutoff date for terminating cash injections to public hospitals. By then, public hospitals must balance their budgets and attain financial autonomy.

At one point, Michaelides asserted that more and more patients are turning to private healthcare facilities, adding that “the alarm bells should be going off at Okypy.”

Asked about this by the Sunday Mail, Audit Office spokesman Marios Petrides explained the issue isn’t precisely that people are abandoning Gesy.

“What we pointed out in the special report, is that they are losing customers. These people are obviously turning towards private hospitals within Gesy. In our previous reports concerning the Health Insurance Organisation, we noted that general healthcare expenditure in Cyprus has increased in the last years despite the pandemic.”

Elsewhere the report states that Okypy – the largest healthcare provider in Cyprus – has a reduced share of the case mix when compared to private hospitals.

“With respect to the financial autonomy of public hospitals under Gesy over the past few years, very few (if any) steps have been taken towards that direction,” Petrides said.

“On the contrary, Okypy management’s main concern was to provide massive salary and benefit increases to doctors (public servants). Our main concern, as clearly stated in the report, is that those salary increases and benefits are not linked with productivity or quality of services provided to patients.”

Back to the report which notes: “Despite the serious and constant decline in the number of patients receiving care at state hospitals following the start of Gesy, Okypy’s revenues from the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) went up.

Read full story here:- https://cyprus-mail.com/2022/07/17/more-and-more-patients-switching-to-private-healthcare/

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Dave
Moira And Dave

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

I have to admit that I struggle with this story a bit.

I can understand people moving away from the general and using facilities at the private hospitals while still under Gesy (which is what I do), but I fail to understand why people would want to pay for private treatment.

It is actually quite hard to find a fully private hospital. Doctors and staff at private /Gesy hospitals (Iasis/Evangelismos\Blue Cross etc.) that I have been to complain that they are just becoming extensions of the general and they can no longer offer private care like they used to.

Personally I have always found the Gesy system to be very good with few delays and a high standard of care and cannot see any point in paying for the same treatment in the same hospital with the same timescale and the same staff.

Just my opinion though.

well i can only speak for my own experiences , i work, pay social security and as such i am in the gesy system.
i agree the old days at the general it was just long queues and hours of waiting, a few years back they introduced nominal charges for A&E and seeing doctors this dramatically improved the " going to the general " experience. i had a heart attack 2 years ago and had a stent fitted, so using the full blown Gesy system i have seen many doctors many times and had a stay in hospital too. arranging appointments , waiting times and quality of care i barely have the smallest complaint. its bloody good and i can see no reason to go private. Thankyou Cyprus medical scheme !