Cyprus has one national health scheme, GeSY (the General Healthcare System), run by the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO). It started with personal doctors, specialists, pharmacies and labs on 1 June 2019 and added hospital care on 1 June 2020. GeSY is not the same thing as the state hospitals: those are run by a separate body, the State Health Services Organisation (SHSO), and they are only some of the providers GeSY pays. The HIO's 2024 list of contracted hospitals has 64 entries, the 8 state hospitals and 56 private or non-profit hospitals and clinics, and 1,036,681 people were registered as beneficiaries in the year to May 2026. It is not free at the point of use: most services carry a small fixed charge.
Who can join
The HIO covers people who are ordinarily resident in Cyprus and fall into one of its groups: Cypriot citizens; EU citizens who work in Cyprus or hold permanent residence; non-EU nationals who work legally and pay social insurance, or hold permanent residence, such as a Category F or investor Immigration Permit or long-term resident status; and refugees and people with subsidiary protection. Spouses, minor children and dependent children under 26 join as dependants, although family members of a non-EU permanent resident need permanent residence too. Pensioners with an S1 form from another country, including UK state pensioners, register the S1 with the Ministry of Health, which issues a white medical card, and then enrol. Not covered: holders of a visitor permit (the pink slip), tourists, EU citizens who neither work nor hold permanent residence, and students who do not work.
That is why the residence permits ask for insurance. The visitor permit requires a Plan A health policy covering inpatient and outpatient care and the repatriation of remains, investors under Regulation 6(2) must show cover when they apply and every year after that while they are not in GeSY, and EU citizens who come to live without working need comprehensive sickness insurance. British arrivals since 1 January 2021 are non-EU nationals, so for most of them GeSY starts with a job, permanent residence or a UK S1.
What you pay in
GeSY is funded mainly by contributions on income: 2.65% for employees, 2.90% from employers, 4.00% for the self-employed, 2.65% on pensions and on rent, interest or dividend income, plus 4.70% paid by the state. Contributions are charged on no more than €180,000 of income a year, and an employee earning €30,000 pays €795 a year. People who are not tax resident pay only on income from Cyprus, excluding dividends and interest. The Tax Department exempts people insured in another EEA country or Switzerland who hold an S1 or A1; UK S1 holders should confirm their position with the Tax Department.
How to register
First you must be on the official registers: for a non-EU national that means a valid residence permit with an ARC number, and for a worker that ARC must also appear on your Social Insurance record. Then enrol as a beneficiary, either online through an HIO portal account (you need your own email address and mobile number) or at a personal doctor's surgery, where the doctor can enrol you and add you to their list in the same visit. Choosing a personal doctor is compulsory before you can use GeSY at all. Children under 15 go on a paediatrician's list where one is available, and after six months with a doctor you can switch. Parents should enrol before their children so the records link. The HIO helpline is 17000, free from Cyprus (+357 22 017000 from abroad), from 08:00 to 20:00 on weekdays and 08:00 to 16:00 on Saturdays.
What it costs to use
Visits to your personal doctor in normal hours cost nothing up to a yearly number of visits set by age; after that the doctor may charge up to €15 a visit, and visits between 20:00 and 07:00 on weekdays, at weekends or on public holidays can cost up to €25. A specialist costs €6 with a referral and €25 without one; women aged 15 and over can see a gynaecologist without a referral for the €6. Each prescribed medicine costs €1, more if you choose a dearer brand than GeSY covers, lab tests are €1 each (no more than €10 per category), scans are €10, a physiotherapist or other therapist on referral is €10 a visit and A&E is €10. GeSY pays for hospital stays in full, and one preventive dental check a year is free. Co-payments stop at €150 a year, or €75 for children under 21, low-income pensioners and Guaranteed Minimum Income recipients; the €25 charge for skipping a referral and the extra charges for doctor visits beyond the allowance or out of hours are separate from those caps.
Emergencies
In an emergency call 112 or 199; both numbers go to the police control centre for your district, and an emergency ambulance is free for GeSY beneficiaries. The state A&E departments are open around the clock at seven SHSO hospitals: Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos General Hospitals, Famagusta General Hospital in Paralimni, Troodos Hospital in Kyperounta and Polis Chrysochous Hospital. You need no referral for A&E, but staff sort patients by urgency: anyone triaged as non-urgent is told to expect a wait and encouraged to see their personal doctor, and pays for treatment themselves if they insist on being seen. Visitors from the EU use an EHIC, and from the UK a GHIC, for medically necessary care in state hospitals; neither covers private clinics or repatriation, so travel insurance still matters, and an EHIC is not valid in the Turkish occupied north. SHSO said in May 2025 that paying patients at state A&Es now leave a €100 deposit when they register.
Pharmacies and prescriptions
The Pharmaceutical Services list 704 private pharmacies across the five districts, and every pharmacy door shows which pharmacies are on night duty. The official rota for 1 October 2026 to 30 April 2027 is published by district on the Pharmaceutical Services site, and CYTA posts a night pharmacies page for each town every day. From 22:00 to 08:00 the duty pharmacist is on call for urgent prescriptions, so ring before you drive over: the number is on the duty list and in the pharmacy's lit window. GeSY pays only for prescription medicines prescribed by a doctor or dentist contracted with the HIO, you pay €1 an item, and repeat prescriptions run for up to six months, dispensed a month at a time.
Private care and waiting times
Private does not have to mean paying: many private hospitals, clinics and specialists are GeSY providers, and the HIO's provider search shows who is contracted. Waits depend on the specialty. In the HIO's budget debate in February 2026, MPs said waits for some specialists run past six months, while in a patients' federation survey published in June 2026, 53% of people got an appointment with their personal doctor the same day or the next. Fully private care outside GeSY has no official price list, so ask for the fee before you book. Our GeSY guide covers the scheme in more detail, and if you are planning the move itself, our relocation help can take the paperwork off your hands.
