The figures were published on Wednesday by the CNS in its annual report, which recorded a 2.5% growth in the number of insured people from 2015.

The service recorded revenues that were €182m greater than their outlay, providing a healthy overall surplus of €228m.

CNS president Paul Schmit said in the document that the positive results were helped considerably by a rigourous economic policy introduced since the 2008 financial crisis.

But now, he said, it was logical to loosen the purse strings and adapt coverage in favour of patients by expanding treatments covered, for example, with coverage now including a second annual dentist check-up.

Among other key figures cited, the CNS reported an average of 4,500 calls per day and 3,700 emails to its helpline, up from 2,700 on the year before.

The service handles the reimbursement of employers for doctors’ certificates issued when a patient is unable to work because of illness or injury. In 2016, the CNS handled 669,160 such certificates, and 12,892 authorisations for treatment abroad. The number of reimbursements issued rose by 80,000 from 2015 to around 4 million in 2016.