With a new department at the Ministry of Health and the creation of a National Ambulance Authority, the government is reshaping the model of emergency pre‑hospital care. Urgent transfers will be handled exclusively by the Authority, while OKYPY, which currently manages emergencies, and private providers will be limited to non‑urgent patient transport.
By establishing a department under the Ministry of Health to oversee the National Ambulance Authority, the government aims to bring order to the way ambulances operate in the country.
Emergency pre‑hospital care will be carried out solely by the Authority. At the same time, the bill sets out the standards that ambulances owned by health service providers (OKYPY, private hospitals and others) must meet in order to carry out patient transfers, though not emergency ones.
The bill was approved yesterday by the Council of Ministers. The newly appointed Minister of Health, Neophytos Charalambides, noted that once the law is passed, citizens facing sudden illness or injury will be guaranteed immediate, properly coordinated and high‑quality assistance.
What the Bill Provides
Senior Hospital Laboratory Officer Carolina Stylianou explained that the first part of the bill concerns emergency pre‑hospital care. “This means that in the event of an accident or urgent incident, transport to the nearest Accident and Emergency Department will be carried out exclusively by ambulances of the Authority. These will be fully staffed and equipped, allowing them to respond to any case quickly and safely,” she said.
Stylianou added that the Authority will also run the Call Management Centre and the Poison Control Centre. In practice, the work currently done by the Ambulance Service under OKYPY will be transferred by law to the Authority, under the Ministry of Health. “In all countries with advanced health systems, emergency pre‑hospital care is managed either directly by the ministry or by an independent authority, without the involvement of health service providers. In our system, one of those providers is OKYPY and the public hospitals,” she pointed out.
OKYPY and other providers will still be able to carry out non‑urgent patient transfers. “This may mean taking a patient from hospital to their home, to a rehabilitation centre or a care home. It may also involve transporting a patient who cannot travel by private car to a doctor for tests,” Stylianou explained. Ambulances used for such transfers will need a licence from the ministry, and licensed providers will be registered in a database accessible to the public.
OSAC on the OKYPY Board
At its meeting yesterday, the Council of Ministers also approved and sent to Parliament a bill providing for the participation of a representative of organised patients (OSAC) on the board of OKYPY. Both bills, on ambulances and on changes to the OKYPY board, will be tabled in the coming days in the plenary session of Parliament. They are expected to be referred to the Health Committee, which is already examining the much‑debated bill for the creation of university clinics.