PENNY BOULOUTZA

The Hellenic Cardiology Society is advising heart patients to remove the saltshaker from the table, avoid the skin and fat from the lamb or goat and the nibbling that precedes the meal in order to avoid unpleasant surprises on Easter Day.

Private doctors will be allowed to perform medical procedures in National Health System (ESY) hospitals, including surgeries, according to a Health Ministry amendment to a bill of the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family. 

The Health Service Users’ Rights Offices operating in hospitals of the National Health System (ESY) received just 17,130 complaints, grievances and requests from patients and/or their carers in 2002.

Greece is far off the goals set by the United Nations to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, according to a recent report by the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), which examines the progress of EU member-countries. 

Aiming to speed up services to patients on waiting lists for regular surgeries, the Health Ministry is planning to introduce paid afternoon operations at the National Health Service (ESY).

The shortage of anesthesiologists at Thessaloniki hospitals has led to surgery waiting times of up to two years. “In Thessaloniki, only 50% of anesthesiologist positions at hospitals are filled,” Aikaterini Amaniti, president of the Society of Anaesthesiology & Intensive Medicine of Northern Greece, told Kathimerini.

The last three years have seen an increase in the number of transplants in Greece, with 2023 being the best year in the last 15 years in terms of organ supply.

According to Georgiades, the performance of the administrators will be judged, among other things, on whether they adhere to the budgets approved by the ministry this year as of January 10, instead of mid-year which was the norm in all previous years. “These budgets, which have been based on the actual spending you did last year, must be adhered to. And the responsibility rests with you. We will be watching. Administrations that I will see month after month that fall short of the budget can know now that they will not continue,” the minister noted.

The triple onslaught of Covid-19, which began in early December, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has intensified in the last week due to large Christmas gatherings, with health experts stressing “we are only at the beginning.”