Two systems, and most families use both
Cyprus has a general healthcare system, GESY, alongside a large private sector. In practice most families use a mix: GESY for the personal doctor, prescriptions and referrals, private for speed on non-urgent appointments.
Keeping both options open during your first year is the pragmatic default while you learn who is good and how quickly you can be seen.
Registering with a personal doctor and paediatrician
Once you are eligible and contributing, register with a personal doctor for the adults and a paediatrician for each child through the GESY beneficiary portal.
Do it early rather than at the first fever. Registration is the gateway to referrals and prescriptions, and doing it under time pressure with a sick child is exactly the wrong moment.
Bring your records with you
Copy your children's vaccination records before leaving, along with any specialist reports, prescriptions and allergy documentation.
Schools will ask for vaccination records at registration, and a new paediatrician will want the history. Translated copies are worth having if the originals are not in English or Greek.
Private appointments and how families use them
Private paediatric appointments are widely available and often quicker for non-urgent visits. Many families keep a private paediatrician for convenience while using GESY for the rest.
Ask other parents locally for recommendations. It is one of the few areas where the school-gate network genuinely outperforms internet research.
Know your emergency route before you need it
Work out, in week one, where you would go with a child at 2am, and how you would get there. Write it on the fridge.
It takes ten minutes and it is the single most useful piece of healthcare admin a newly arrived family can do.