The Cypriot Healthcare System: GESY, Access for a Foreigner, Personal Doctor, Co-Payments and Emergencies

CLEISS describes a universal model launched gradually since June 2019, which brings the public and private sectors together under a single-payer scheme. The Health Insurance Organisation (HIO in English, OAY in Greek) runs the system: it collects contributions from beneficiaries, employers and the State, then pays the providers, by a per-patient fee for general practitioners and by budgets for specialists (CLEISS, page of 2021). The Ministry of Health has as its affiliated bodies the State Health Services Organisation and the Health Insurance Organisation.

The system is funded by contributions, co-payments and personal contributions. Contributors are employees (2.65% of their salary), employers (2.90%), the State (4.70% of salaries, self-employed remuneration and pensions), the self-employed (4% of their remuneration), pensioners (2.65% of their pension) and holders of capital income, such as rents, interest and dividends (2.65%). The annual income subject to contribution is capped at 180,000 euros per person; a person who is not a Cypriot tax resident contributes only on income, remuneration and pensions of Cypriot source, excluding dividends and interest (Health Insurance Organisation). Contribution rates are detailed in the page on working in Cyprus, and the Cyprus country page presents health insurance by status.

The Health Insurance Organisation states that a citizen of the Union who lives in Cyprus is a beneficiary of the system if they meet one of these criteria: being an employee, having acquired permanent residence, being a family member of a beneficiary or being insured in another Member State of the Union. CLEISS specifies that you can register on the organisation’s website or by visiting a contracted doctor, and that you must choose a treating doctor.

• Employee: employment confers beneficiary status; the employee contributes 2.65% of their salary according to the organisation, and their employer 2.90%.
• Retiree or long-term seconded employee: being insured in another Member State covers in particular the holder of an S1 form issued by the French fund; see the page on retiring in Cyprus.
• Temporary stay: the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card, CEAM in French) gives access to necessary public-sector care, with direct billing limited to contracted public providers (CLEISS, page of 2023).
• Residence document: the registration certificate does not, by itself, amount to registration with the healthcare system; the page on living in Cyprus details the residence formalities.

Each beneficiary registers with a personal general practitioner and can change after six months of affiliation; this doctor provides follow-up, prevention and referral (CLEISS, 2021). The insured person has direct access to the treating doctor, the dentist, the ambulance service and the emergency service among the contracted public or private providers. It is not necessary to go through the treating doctor for preventive dental treatment.

• Specialist: the system provides for no co-payment for a general practitioner consultation or for a hospital stay. A patient who consults a specialist without having seen their treating doctor pays a type I personal contribution of 25 euros, except for a gynaecology-obstetrics consultation for a woman aged 15 and over. With a referral, CLEISS indicates a co-payment of 6 euros for a specialist consultation, excluding radiology.
• Hospital stay: it takes place on medical prescription or after an emergency visit, in a public or contracted private hospital; it covers in particular surgery, radiology, obstetrics and laboratories.

According to CLEISS, the insured person accesses public hospitals and contracted private hospitals on referral from a provider. A hospital stay involves no co-payment, and direct access to emergency services is open to the insured person.

• Emergencies: 112 is the European number; in the event of a fire, call 112 or 1407, free of charge (France Diplomatie, the French foreign ministry). A co-payment of 10 euros is requested for a hospital visit for an accident or emergency, excluding hospital stays (Health Insurance Organisation; CLEISS).
• French embassy: the embassy in Nicosia can be reached on +357 25 05 71 40.
• Healthcare system: France Diplomatie indicates that the healthcare system of the Republic of Cyprus meets European standards and that pharmacies are numerous and well stocked.

Doctors prescribe medicines from the list approved by the system. The insured person pays 1 euro per medicine or medical device; if they choose a product more expensive than the one the system covers, they also pay the price difference, called a type II personal contribution (Health Insurance Organisation; CLEISS). Laboratory tests involve 1 euro per test, with a maximum of 10 euros per category of tests.

• Dental: care is provided by contracted private dentists, and preventive treatment requires no referral from the treating doctor. According to CLEISS, a significant share is funded for certain categories of insured people, including low-income people and children (page of 2021); the detail of the procedures covered should be checked with the organisation.
• Optical: the official sources consulted do not describe general cover of glasses for adults; the optical budget falls under any supplementary insurance.

Co-payments vary by procedure. CLEISS indicates no co-payment for general practitioner consultations and hospital stays; 1 euro for a medicine, a medical device or a test; 6 euros for a specialist excluding radiology; 10 euros for nursing or midwife care, radiology, a paramedical professional and emergencies. A patient’s annual co-payment is limited to 150 euros, and to 75 euros for people under 21 and recipients of the guaranteed minimum income (CLEISS, 2021).

The financing page of the Health Insurance Organisation, which carries the mention 2018-2022, presents a similar but slightly different scale, with 6 euros for a visit to a nurse or midwife and 10 euros for radiology, paramedical professions and emergencies: the amounts should be checked with the organisation. The page on healthcare reimbursement in Cyprus details who pays depending on the situation.

CLEISS indicates that maternity is covered by outpatient and emergency services, midwives included, since the system was set up. France Diplomatie recommends bringing vaccinations in line with the French schedule (diphtheria, tetanus, polio, whooping cough and measles) and cites, depending on the conditions of the stay, hepatitis A and B, typhoid fever, rabies and tick-borne encephalitis (updated 15 September 2026).

• Diseases: dengue, transmitted by mosquitoes, tick-borne encephalitis in spring and summer, typhoid fever through contaminated water and food and rabies through contact with infected animals. France Diplomatie also reports increasingly frequent episodes of air pollution in urban areas.
• Insurance: France Diplomatie considers it essential to have an assistance contract or insurance that covers all medical costs, including surgery and hospital stays, and medical repatriation, and asks people who wish to travel to Northern Cyprus to make sure, before their trip, that they are covered by their insurance in that part of the island too.

The page on expat health insurance presents the supplementary options for dental, optical and repatriation.