Talks between government and doctors continued yesterday after efforts by President Anastasiades to bring the Cyprus Medical Association into the fold.
The doctors are at odds with the Health Insurance Organization (HIO), the agency responsible for implementing the General Healthcare System (GESY in Greek).
In the past few weeks several private hospitals and private practitioners have declared that they are not joining the General Healthcare System which is scheduled to launch in June this year.
So far discussions have ended inconclusively.
The Cyprus Medical Association insists on doctors maintaining the right to private practice as well as take part in the General Healthcare System. However this position has been rejected both by the Minister of Health Konstantinos Ioannou and the Health Insurance Organization, who said that such a position goes against the philosophy and the law the GHS is based on.
The Medical Association also wants a long term guarantee on the price per patient visit as well as assurances that measures will be taken to prevent abuse of the system by beneficiaries.
According to Kathimerini sources, the government believes that satisfactory convergences have been reached and that the majority of demands made by the Medical Association have been met. At the same time, the issue of maintaining private practice privileges remains unresolved.
