Ministry of Health Announcement – Access to Health Services for Detection of COVID-19

The Ministry of Health, in order to ensure that citizens have unhindered access to health services, reminds citizens of the procedure to follow in case of COVID-19 symptoms:

  1. If a citizen is experiencing suspicious symptoms related to the coronavirus, he or she should contact by phone their Personal Medical Practitioner, who will give him or her the initial instructions to follow. If the Personal Practitioner considers that further investigation is needed, the Personal Practitioner will apply to the Epidemiological Surveillance and Control Unit of the Infectious Diseases of the Ministry of Health via an electronic platform. Subsequently, the Epidemiological Surveillance and Control Unit of Infectious Diseases will communicate with the patient and make an appointment at the Public Health Department, as a matter of priority.
  2. If a citizen is diagnosed as positive and should be confined to a home, he / she will be monitored by telephone by their Personal Medical Practitioner, who will provide instructions. Therefore, these citizens need to communicate with their Personal Practitioners and follow their instructions faithfully.
  3. Given the state of emergency, it is expected that all citizens will cooperate to the fullest extend and, above all, contribute so that health professionals stay in action and provide their services throughout this period. To make this possible, citizens with non-urgent health issues, who are not symptomatic of coronavirus, are urged to be served by Personal or Specialist Doctors by telephone. Only in cases of emergency and serious incidents, in the physician’s discretion and after a telephone evaluation, will the public be served by doctors in their own practice. Similar guidelines have already been sent to all Personal Doctors and Specialists.
  4. In the event that the Personal Practitioner is unable to serve the beneficiaries on his or her list, patients are invited to contact his / her substitute designated for this purpose.
  5. in the event that the beneficiary has no response from either the Medical Practitioner or his / her substitute, he / she must notify the Agency at pdavailability@hio.org.cy so that the Agency can immediately handle this.
  6. If a citizen is not a registered beneficiary with a Personal Medical Practitioner in GESY only then he can contact the call center 1420 for further guidance.
  7. Patients who bypass the procedure and visit Accident and Emergency Departments voluntarily or following the verbal instructions of their Personal Medical Practitioners will not be served.

All citizens and health professionals should adhere to the above as the successful management of the emergency depends on ALL OF US. Compliance by all citizens with the guidelines issued from time to time can facilitate the work of providers and ensure as much as possible the minimization of the impact of the pandemic that Cyprus is experiencing. The aim is to ensure the safety and health of our citizens.