20 hours Ago
The health ministry spent more than €10 million sending Cypriot patients abroad to receive treatment in 2022, the audit office announced on Wednesday. In a report written on the health ministry’s activities, the audit office wrote that the ministry had made payments to the national health institutions of other European Union member states for this purpose since 2010, and that in the year 2022, this figure amounted to exactly €10,763,009. It added that given the fact that the relevant invoices are standardised and only include “general information”, such as the patient’s name, the period for which they were hospitalised, and the total cost, “ it is not possible to carry out an extensive audit of the cost of the invoices ”.
For this reason, the audit service requested that the health ministry “consider contacting the national health institutions of other EU member states to determine whether it is possible to carry out any further checks on the invoices they are required to pay”. The report also revealed that the health ministry had paid the federation of Cyprus patients’ associations (Osak) €100,000 in a state grant, “ even though Osak did not submit all the forms” required to receive such a grant . Additionally, it said, the ministry “did not examine” Osak’s own funds, which went against instructions on the matter issued by the finance ministry.
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