UK-trained Cypriot doctors unable to join GHS over unrecognised qualifications

Nicosia, Cyprus. Two Cypriot doctors trained in the United Kingdom say Brexit has prevented them from returning home to work as personal doctors under the General Healthcare System (GHS), as their British general practice qualifications are not recognised in Cyprus.

They are registered on the Cyprus medical register as unspecialised doctors, which prevents them from joining the GHS as personal doctors. A parliamentary proposal intended to address the matter was rejected earlier this year, while the Cyprus Medical Association says the issue remains unresolved.

Training requirements

The couple obtained their medical qualifications and specialist titles in the United Kingdom, where they completed their training and received the required certification.

General practice training in the UK lasts three years, compared with four years in the European Union. The doctors say Cyprus has not updated its procedures to allow recognition of the UK qualifications.

They can work without restriction as independent GP specialists in the UK but cannot return to Cyprus to treat patients as GHS personal doctors. General practice is among the specialisations required for personal doctors under the GHS.

Call for a recognition pathway

The doctors said other European countries, including Greece, have introduced specific arrangements to recognise three-year specialist training completed in the UK since Brexit through a defined pathway.

They said they had made several attempts to resolve the matter without finding a solution and argued that other Cypriot doctors who have obtained, or will obtain, specialist qualifications in the UK could face the same problem.

In a letter to the Federation of Cyprus Patients’ Associations, the doctors called for the Cypriot framework to be modernised to allow specialist qualifications obtained through complete, certified training in the United Kingdom to be assessed and recognised in a clear, fair and predictable way.

They said the matter currently affected two general practitioners but could later affect Cypriot doctors in other specialisations who complete training in the United Kingdom and must decide whether to return to Cyprus or continue their careers abroad.

Parliamentary discussion

The issue was raised with the parliamentary Health Committee last spring, when it discussed a specific legislative proposal.

The proposal was rejected after representatives of relevant bodies told the committee that the doctors concerned had been offered the option of completing an additional year of specialist training at a hospital in Cyprus before reapplying for the relevant certificate.

Some doctors have followed that route, while others left the United Kingdom immediately after Brexit and completed their training to obtain specialist qualifications in other EU member states or in Cyprus.