101 Changes to Greek Health System

The PM added that waste had to be stopped and the paralysis of the country from debt had to cease, noting that Greece had the highest spending for health, while citizens continuously had to put their hands in their pockets.

Mr. Samaras was speaking at a conference entitled “Greek reforms in the health sector:Improving citizen health” at the sidelines of which he met with the head of the Task Force in Greece Horst Reichenbach.

During the conference Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis noted that the reform program that was fostered with the aid of the Task Force and WHO is based on two axes: supporting primary healthcare, and public health.

The program, as outlined, has 101 deliverable actions, which include the organization of primary healthcare, set and unified health fees in consultation with German experts, reorganizing EOPYY, and reorganizing hospitals, among other things.

Meanwhile, the Government Reform Council decided that National Organization for the Provision of Healthcare Services (EOPYY) will no longer be a health services provider, but rather a health services purchaser.

The plan to reform EOPYY also foresees that 8,500 of its staff be placed on suspension along with 1,200 hospital doctors.

The scheme states that all EOPYY structures are passed on to the National Health System (ESY), while doctors are called on to decide whether they will have a full time job with ESY, or will work at private practices under contract.

Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis reiterated, today, that he will not engage in dialogue with EOPYY doctors as long as the organization's clinics remain closed (because of the doctors; strike). The minister also said that “mobility” schemes for doctors may start as soon as this coming Monday “with, or without the doctors,” as he said.