In order to have access to GHS Healthcare Services, all interested individuals must be registered in the GHS Beneficiary Registry and a personal doctor List
1. Enrolment in the Beneficiary Registry
In order to enrol in the GHS Beneficiary Registry, the interested party must be registered in the Civil Registry, or the Registry of the Migration Department and/or the Social Insurance Services. In addition, and in order to comply with the criteria that must be fulfilled in accordance with the GHS Law of 2017, the Health Insurance Organisation may request additional certificates and/or evidence (click here).
Α. Online enrolment
The application for enrolment in the GHS Beneficiary Registry is submitted online via the Beneficiary Portal. The first step to access the said portal is to create an account via the HIO website and activate it.
The interested party is then connected to the Beneficiary Portal and proceeds with the enrolment following instructions on the screen. The enrolment process requires that the interested party fills in specific fields in order to be identified in the abovementioned Registries as well as some additional information (e.g. address, telephone number for communication etc.)
In case that a person cannot be identified with the Registries he/she will be asked to submit an online beneficiary registration request that he/she must then print and send by post to the Health Insurance Organisation attaching specific certificates and/or evidence.
Persons who do not have access to the Internet can enrol with the help of third parties that have an account in the Beneficiary Portal given that the said procedure will be done with the consent of the interested party.
Β. Enrolment by visiting a personal doctor
Persons who do not have access to the internet can be enrolled as beneficiaries by visiting a personal doctor of their choice. During their visit the personal doctor will fill in the application for enrolment in the beneficiary record on behalf of the interested party. It is noted that during the specific visit the interested party may complete his/her registration in the personal doctor List (step 2.2).
C. Enrolment requests in paper form for specific beneficiary eligibility categories
For the submission of a GHS enrolment request it is necessary that all persons are registered in the Civil Registry and Migration Department (CRMD) and possess a valid residence permit (persons with non-Cypriot nationality).
However, for specific categories of persons either their data are not registered in the CRMD, either, although their data are registered in the CRMD, it is still not possible to submit an online enrolment request through the Beneficiary Portal.
Specifically this applies for the below categories:
(A). Persons who are exempted from migration formalities and who fall into one of the below categories:
i) S1 document holders who are Diplomats / embassy staff / their family members and are working in EU embassies in the Republic of Cyprus.
ii) Persons with "Native" status granted to them by the CRMD.
iii) Domestic staff working in Embassies in the Republic of Cyprus.
(B). Persons who are in possession of a valid Residence Permit issued by the CRMD and are registered in the CRMD registry and:
i) in the field of “name”, numbers and/or symbols have been inserted and the necessary correction is not possible to be performed by the CRMD or
ii) in the fields of “nationality”, the description “unknown/undefined” is registered
Persons falling into one of the above mentioned categories can complete the paper GHS enrolment request for and send it to the HIO via post. The paper GHS Enrolment Request can be submitted exclusively and only by persons who fall into the above categories.
Registration Form (English)
2. Registration in a personal doctor list
The following apply for registration in a personal doctor list:
- Beneficiaries under the age of 15 are registered in the list of a personal doctor for children
- Beneficiaries who have completed the age of 15 until the completion of the age of 18, are registered either in the list of a personal doctor for children or a personal doctor for adults.
- Beneficiaries over the age of 18 are registered in the list of a personal doctor for adults
- Beneficiaries over the age of 65 are registered in the list of a personal doctor for adults or a personal doctor specialised in geriatrics
Beneficiaries can search for personal doctors who are contracted with the Health Insurance Organisation for the provision of healthcare services by a personal doctor within the framework of the GHS either on the HIO website or the Beneficiary Portal or on printed directories that will be made available by the HIO in various places that will be announced to the beneficiaries.
There are two ways to register in a personal doctor list:
Online via the Beneficiary Portal
- Beneficiaries who are already enrolled in the Beneficiary Registry and have access to the Beneficiary Portal (see 2.1.A) may send an online registration request to be registered in the list of a personal doctor of their choice whom they can find by searching online. If the personal doctor accepts the online request, the beneficiary will be notified by e-mail and/or the Beneficiary Portal. In order to complete the registration process the beneficiary must visit his/her personal doctor.
- During this first visit the personal doctor will fill in/confirm the beneficiary’s personal information and both parties will sign the Form of Mutual Acceptance that the personal doctor will send to the Health Insurance Organisation within a reasonable time period. In addition, the personal doctor will give the beneficiary a unique number that, in combination with a relevant email that the beneficiary will receive, will give the beneficiary access to his/her Benefiicary Record
By visiting a personal doctor
- Alternatively, beneficiaries who are already enrolled in the Beneficiary Registry can visit the personal doctor on whose list they wish to be registered. During their visit, the personal doctor can search for the beneficiary in the online Beneficiary Registry. After identifying them the personal doctor will register them in the list.
- In addition, the personal doctor will fill in/confirm the beneficiary’s information and they will both sign the Form of Mutual Acceptance. Then the personal doctor will send to the HIO within a reasonable time period.
- Also, the personal doctor will give the beneficiary, if the latter so requests and if he/she has a listed email address in the Beneficiary Record, a unique number that in combination with a relevant email that he/she will receive, will give the beneficiary access to his/her Beneficiary Record.
3. Right to change your personal doctor
It is noted that beneficiaries over the age of 2 have the right to change their personal doctor provided that a period of six months has elapsed from the date of their registration in the personal doctor list.
Beneficiaries up to the age of 2 have the right to change their personal doctor whenever they so wish.