Unacceptable to exclude medicines from the NHS, says Cyprus trade group

The Cyprus Association of Research and Development Pharmaceutical Companies (KEFEA) says it is concerned over media reports which claim that only one medicine will be available for every disease following the implementation of the National Health System (NHS), stressing that such a development would be a serious setback and have an adverse impact on the provision of health care to Cypriot patients.

In a meeting held at the Directorate General for European Programs last week, KEFEA explained to the Troika (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) the dangers of providing only one treatment for each disease, and underlined the fact that Cyprus will be the only country in the world with a National Health System which does not afford patients the right to equal access of medicines.

KEFEA reiterated that such a practice would rescind the philosophy of the NHS and significantly undermine the quality of health care offered, while at the same time creating drug shortages in Cyprus. Furthermore, such a practice violates the physician’s right to freedom of choice when choosing treatments and creates serious problems in implementing the directive for Cross-border Healthcare.