With the legislation now in place, the path towards establishing the National Ambulance Service has formally opened. In practice, however, the next phase will not be the immediate operation of the new body, but a critical transitional period during which the Ministry of Health and the State Health Services Organisation (known by its Greek acronym OKYPY) must agree on the most sensitive part of the reform – the structured transfer of ambulance services, without any disruption to emergency pre-hospital care.
The law was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus on 9 April 2026. It provides, however, that the provisions relating specifically to the National Ambulance Service will enter into force only after OKYPY achieves financial and administrative autonomy, or at the latest by 31 December 2026.
Transitional period
This means that the coming months will be decisive, as a series of arrangements must be concluded well before the end of the year. Until the new body becomes fully operational, the OKYPY Ambulance Directorate remains the sole registered provider of ambulance services for emergency pre-hospital care. In effect, OKYPY continues to carry the operational burden, while the ministry prepares the framework for the next stage.
Handover with compensation
The law explicitly provides that OKYPY will transfer vehicles, equipment and materials it owns to the new body and that the organisation will be compensated from the state budget. To implement this process, the law requires the conclusion of a contract or agreement between the Ministry of Health and OKYPY.
This means that, in the immediate period ahead, the two sides must engage in substantive negotiations to determine which ambulances will be handed over, what equipment will be transferred, how costs will be calculated, what the delivery timetable will be, and how financial settlement will take place.
It is worth noting that the provision for compensating OKYPY was included following a proposal by the organisation itself, taking into account the cost of running the Ambulance Service over the past seven years. During discussions at the House health committee, OKYPY chief executive Kypros Stavrides said: “The organisation has invested very large sums in recent years. It has purchased vehicles, staffed the service and so on. We believe all of this should be assessed and compensated, so that the process is fair and equitable.”
According to information available to Politis, OKYPY has not yet completed a costing of the Ambulance Service, a step that will need to be finalised in the coming weeks.
Secondment to the Ministry of Health
Equally critical is the issue of personnel, even if it has attracted less public attention. The law stipulates that the National Ambulance Service will be staffed, among other sources, by OKYPY personnel seconded to the Ministry of Health. The transition therefore concerns not only vehicles and equipment, but also the people who currently keep the service running.
This makes timely coordination between the two sides essential, to ensure that the transfer does not weaken the existing service or lead to a loss of expertise built up within OKYPY’s current structure.