CyprusLiving

Hi teresa.
Me and my wife plan to move over to paphos to live permanently.towards the end of 2011,the question i would like to ask concerns my wife ann,she had an ileostomy many years ago,and requires pouches which is a must to live a normal life,here in the uk she gets these free on prescription.
On our last vist to paphos in october,she took a sample pouch to a chemist in paphos,he contacted suppliers in nicosia and she was quoted a price of 47 euros for ten,as she uses one per day this would be very expensive,she thought of having them sent over from the uk,but without a uk address i dont think we would be able to do that.
I wonder if you know what the people in cyprus with the same condition do over there,can you buy in bulk etc.any information would be most appreciated thanks.

Hi Neil ( I assume thats your name from your username),

You don't mention if your wife receives any disability/incapacity allowance or not - this could be an important point in your case. If she does she may qualify for state funded care (reimbursable by the UK) even if she is below pensionable age. In that case she could register with a government doctor here in Paphos hospital, he could prescribe her bags and she could have that prescription dispensed in a government pharmacy free of charge.

If she doesn't qualify - do you? will you be in receipt of a state pension from the UK in 2011? if so she will qualify as your spouse/dependent.

If neither of you qualify for state funded health care then you need to try to find a way around it. Will you retain a home in the UK when you move here? if so you can use that address to obtain prescriptions from your UK GP and have them posted out to you in Cyprus.

If all that is not possible try to look into buying them online - they may be cheaper from an online pharmacy if you shop around.

A few options there - perhaps you could clarify your position from my questions and it may bring up some more options.

Teresa

Thanks for your quick reply.no my wife is not on any sort of benefits,and neither am i,we are still both in full employment,we are both going to stop work on september 2011,and will be coming over to cyprus for a trial period of 6 to 9 months,i will be aged 60 and my wife will be 55,if we decide it is for us we will sell up in th uk and move lock stock and barrel so we will not have a uk address,my wife says we could use oe of our dauhters addresses ,but i think that would be a bit iffy,perhaps breaking the law.

Hi again Neil,
At least you have some time to prepare things before you come out and I am sure your wife's GP would prescribe enough bags for at least your 6-9 months of "rehearsal" before you potentially sell up in the UK.

Between now and then things could well change in Cyprus anyway. There are discussions at present regarding ex pats and health costs in Europe so decisions could be made in your favour.

I can't, of course, condone your breaking the law regarding using your daughter's address and I would encourage research on the internet to see how much you could buy them for instead.

If you want to PM the details of the bags etc I am happy to do that for you if you don't feel confident doing it.
Teresa