Patients in Cyprus filed 534 complaints about medical care in four months

During the first four months of the Patient Rights Commissioners’ work in Cyprus, 534 complaints were registered — both written and oral. People most often complain about the quality of medical care, long waiting times and unnecessary suffering.

From 1 May to 31 August 2026, 293 written complaints and 241 oral submissions were received — an average of more than 130 a month. The written complaints contained 843 references to rights violations: a single complaint often mentions several violations.

The most frequent issue was the quality of medical care, with 98 references, or 33%. This includes not only medical errors, but also negligence, the organisation of services and continuity of care. Second was a lack of respect for patients’ time (88 references), followed by the right not to experience unnecessary suffering and pain (80 references). A further 71 references, or 24%, concerned the provision of information to patients. “Providing information should be accompanied by confirmation that the person has understood everything,” the report stresses.

About one in five written complaints concerns emergency departments: patients write about long waits and inadequate explanations of what is happening. Around half of the complaints about these departments relate to unnecessary suffering. 62% of written complaints and 58% of oral complaints concern public medical institutions, although direct comparisons with private institutions are difficult because of differences in workload.

District committees for reviewing complaints began operating in Cyprus on 1 October 2026. Patients who are dissatisfied with the decision on their complaint can ask for it to be reviewed, and the committee has one month to do so.

Patient Rights Commissioner Marios Charalambides called the new mechanism “a useful tool”. However, he noted that individual complaints are only one indicator and do not give a complete picture of how patients’ rights are respected in Cyprus.