Recent changes to the classification of certain medicines under Cyprus’ General Healthcare System (Gesy) have led to increased patient co-payments, prompting concern from the Cyprus Federation of Patient Associations (OSAK).
According to OSAK, the reclassifications are linked to the expiry of patents for certain original medicines. While the prices of the drugs themselves have not changed, thousands of patients are now required to pay higher contributions for long-term treatments.
The federation says it has received complaints from both patients and doctors, noting that the increased financial burden is affecting primarily elderly patients, pensioners and low-income retirees.
Concerns over treatment continuity
The issue concerns medicines that fall within the same therapeutic category and are prescribed for the same condition but contain different active substances. In such cases, the choice of medication is made by the treating physician and, OSAK argues, should not be influenced by changes in co-payment levels resulting from administrative reclassifications.
Patients who rely on long-term medication are now facing higher monthly out-of-pocket costs, in some instances for a single drug.
OSAK warns that this creates a real risk to treatment adherence and may place patients in a difficult position. Switching to an alternative medication with a different active ingredient could, in some cases, pose health risks.
“The patients cannot be expected to bear the cost of changes arising from patent expiries, price adjustments and related reclassifications,” the federation said, particularly where no safe and clinically appropriate alternative exists without altering the treatment regimen.
Call for dialogue and intervention
OSAK has initiated discussions with the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) to explore possible solutions in cases where patients face disproportionate financial burdens.
At the same time, the federation is calling on pharmaceutical companies to engage in dialogue with both OSAK and the HIO to help address the issue.
The federation says it expects concrete interventions to prevent the transfer of additional costs onto patients and to ensure that no group is disproportionately affected by changes to the medicines lists.