The General Healthcare System (GeSY/GHS) is a new health insurance system in Cyprus. In its principle, it resembles the Russian OMS. I.e. one part of the funds for GeSY services comes from the budget, and the other part is the deductions of beneficiaries.
Registration with GeSY
You can register with GeSY on your own on their website or with the help of a doctor, through his system (if you already know who will go to the appointment). During the registration process, you will need to fill out several questionnaires, indicating your ID and address of residence.
Find your category, which you will register for, you can here. Personally, we were in the category of “Not EU citizens.”
If you need a visual sample of how to fill out all the questionnaires, you can use the User’s Guide with a step-by-step description of the use of the site here (the link works for those who have already created a personal office).
After registration, a list of documents that must be prepared in a paper version and sent to the office of the Health Insurance Organization (HIO) will be shown.
After checking your documents in hio and approval of the application, the last step remains – the choice of doctor. To do this, you choose the right parameters to select a doctor and send him an application. After that you personally visit your doctor, he confirms your application in his database, and you put a signature in his docks.
What happens if there are problems with documents
The list of documents does not say what they mean by Ordinary residence evidence, and that proof of kinship (our case – a marriage certificate) should be translated into English or Greek. Therefore, a few days after sending the documents in the mail, I received the following email from the HIO employee (email ends with hio.org.cy):
In a reply letter to the same address, I attached a PDF to an electricity bill, a lease agreement and a photo of the translation, made and certified by a juror by an interpreter.
After about 2 weeks, the HIO approved my application (status is checked in my personal office).
What to do if ARC is not found
My husband, who works for a local firm, had no problems with check-in. I had difficulties almost immediately.
My problem with ARC arose because I was told that during the initial paperwork, I was less than a year in the status of a wife, and that I needed a period of one year to pass as a family member. Of course, there is a chance that something was not quite correctly explained to me, so I can not insist on my rightness.
If you want to register with GeSY urgently, you should contact the Migration Department to work with them to resolve the ARC issue. If there is no rush, it is worth waiting for the red-slip reissue. In the new card the number will remain the same, but in the migration system you will be in a new status.
Where to find a translator
Translations of documents from foreign languages must be made by a certified person, such as a juror translator. To find the right translator, contact the Press and Information Office (PIO).
The list of proposed languages and documents that can be translated is available on the PIO website, as is the Translator Register.
In Paphos I turned to Alona Katsy. She makes translations from Russian/Ukrainian to Greek. The translation of the marriage certificate cost 25 € and took 4 days including weekend.
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