GESY – Understanding the General Health System in Cyprus

GESY or GHS, is the general health system in Cyprus. Its’ purpose is to provide people with high-quality healthcare services.

Its’ focus is towards succeeding covering the population by providing to it medical care, while at the same time emphasizing the right for equality and fair treatment of all the beneficiaries.

A uniform protocol should be followed, starting with the beneficiaries electronically registering in the system or going directly to the doctor of their choosing to finish the process jointly. Beneficiaries who are not Cypriots must enter the numbers on their registration certificates while registering in the system. In the event that the beneficiaries do not already possess the aforementioned certifications, we can assist them with the requirements to first apply for a registration certificate in order to move forward with their GHS application.

Beneficiaries

a) Citizens of the Republic of Cyprus

People who are holders of a Cyprus citizenship are beneficiaries of the GHS system as well as their dependents.

In case that you are a Cypriot citizen studying abroad and you are under the age of twenty-six (26), you are still eligible even if you are absent from Cyprus, provided that you are attending an educational institution regularly that it is recognizable as a higher education institution by the competent national authorities of the country in which it operates.

b) European Union Citizens

A European citizen is considered eligible only in the following scenarios:

1. You are employed.
2. You are a holder of a permanent residence permit.
3. You are a member of family of a beneficiary
4. You are insured in another Eu country. (S1 Form)

c) Non-European Union Citizens

Third country nationals could be eligible if they are holders of a permanent residence permit in the Republic of Cyprus as well as their dependants.

In case that you are a British citizen that obtained a residence permit (UKW1) in Cyprus under the beneficiaries of the withdrawal agreement of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the EU and Euratom, you are considered eligible for benefiting from the GHS system in Cyprus, only if you are employed. In the case that you are not employed, you must apply for a permanent residence permit, in this case UKW3.

In the event that you are a holder of a permanent residence permit in the Republic of Cyprus, it is not required for you to be employed.

A non-European citizen is considered eligible in the following scenarios:

1. You are employed.
2. You are a holder of a permanent residence permit.
3. You are a member of family of a beneficiary
4. You are insured in another Eu country. (S1 Form)

UK Nationals

UK citizens who come to Cyprus and obtain a temporary residence permit – Visitor, even if UK is not an EU-member state anymore, if they are holders of the S1 Form in UK, they can register with GESY in Cyprus. What is required is that:

(a) you must have a residence permit in the Republic of Cyprus, and

(b) own or rent a property on the island where you will be staying.

However, before registering with GESY you must obtain the so called “Health Care Card” from the Ministry of Health of Cyprus, which is something we can assist you with.

Procedure of registering with GHS

There exist two ways of registering with GHS. You can either register online or visit your personal doctor.

However, in order to enroll in the GHS health system, one must be registered at the Civil Registry, or the Registry of the Migration Department and/or at the Social Insurance Services like beforementioned.

In case when you are either an Eu National or a non-EU national, and you are eligible for the services of GHS based on the criteria of “employed” then you must inform the Social Insurance about your residency permit so they can “link” your ARC number with your social insurance account. This way, a small percentage of your salary will be contributed to GESY system and therefore you will be eligible for its’ services.

Basically, to be eligible and considered a beneficiary to your right for Health Care from GHS system, you either must be employed or if employment is not a choice you will have to be a holder of a permanent residency permit in Cyprus or be a holder of the S1 form in another Eu country, which will be contributing for GESY while you will be registered in the system.

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