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Mounjaro is joining GESY’s covered medicines from Thursday, opening a clearer route to treatment for eligible adults with type 2 diabetes or obesity. But its inclusion does not mean anyone seeking to lose weight can get it through the health system.
Coverage for the drug, also known as tirzepatide, depends on meeting approved treatment protocols and receiving advance authorization from the Health Insurance Organization, or HIO.
Prescriptions will be issued by doctors in designated specialties following that approval. For now, the medicine will be dispensed through hospital pharmacies.
The HIO says obesity coverage applies to specific cases that meet the protocol’s requirements, rather than weight loss generally.
Requests already in the hundreds
Demand predates the decision. Kathimerini, citing a written statement from HIO senior pharmaceutical officer Sophia Petridou, reported that 1,747 requests involving 972 patients were submitted between Jan. 1, 2025, and Aug. 20, 2026.
Of the 422 requests evaluated during that period, 238 were approved and 184 rejected. Those are application figures, rather than a count of individual patients approved or refused treatment.
Until now, access was considered through individual requests. Adding Mounjaro to GESY’s medicines list moves reimbursement into a defined system with established eligibility rules and preapproval procedures.
For patients, the practical starting point is their treating doctor, who can assess whether their condition meets the relevant criteria and explain the approval process.
The change broadens access through a formal coverage pathway, but a prescription alone will not be enough to secure GESY-funded treatment.
*Source: Kathimerini/CNA, reporting the HIO statement
