Private doctors in late-night talks on Gesy

Private doctors belonging to the Cyprus Medical Association (CyMA) were on Thursday evening meeting to discuss whether they would be joining the national health scheme, with their final decision seen as critical to the scheme’s future.

Their gathering began at 7.30pm and was expected to last beyond midnight.

The association represents some 40 societies of physicians and medical scientists, of which 15 have already stated they will not participate in the national health scheme (Gesy) as it stands.

Private doctors were taking stock of two meetings held at the presidential palace earlier this week to discuss the implementation of Gesy.

The association’s main grievances are two: they want the flexibility of being able to enter into private practice within Gesy, and are calling for an increase in the budget due to concerns over remuneration.

The government has said no to both demands.

On Thursday, finance minister Harris Georgiades again ruled out any increase to the Gesy budget.

Under the government’s timetable, the first phase of Gesy is to be rolled out on June 1. This concerns outpatient care provided by personal physicians, specialists, pharmacies and labs.

Gesy will come into full swing as of June 1, 2020 with inpatient care.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.