Cyprus’s national health system, GeSY, has expanded its podiatry services, adding new categories of eligible patients and significantly increasing the number of reimbursed visits for those with serious underlying conditions.
The revisions form part of an ongoing effort to update the podiatry benefits package, the HIO said, with the aim of improving the quality of care, preventing complications and bringing services into line with international best practice.
The most far-reaching change is a widening of the diagnoses that qualify for treatment.
Patients with Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, other forms of diabetes, or unspecified diabetes without complications will now be entitled to one preventive podiatry visit a year — a measure the HIO said was designed to support early assessment and head off lower-limb problems before they become severe.
GeSY will also fund up to five visits annually for patients with conditions affecting microcirculation, skin, connective tissue and peripheral nerves, among them Raynaud’s syndrome, scleroderma, cutaneous vasculitis, calcinosis cutis, sclerodactyly, connective-tissue disorders and drug-induced polyneuropathy.
The organisation said the expansion should benefit patients at heightened risk of ulcers, wounds and other serious lower-limb complications by allowing for earlier intervention.
A more substantial change concerns patients already undergoing podiatry treatment.
For those with Type 2 diabetes and peripheral circulatory complications, the number of reimbursed visits will rise sharply, from five to 24 a year.
The HIO said the increase reflected the heightened risk of diabetic foot, chronic ulcers and amputation, conditions that demand frequent monitoring. A comparable increase will apply to patients with stage-five chronic kidney disease.
