Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the newly constructed emergency department of the General Hospital “Asclepius” in Voula, which was on duty that morning.

The Prime Minister was briefed on the upgraded services provided to patients in the new, larger wings of the ER, which now spans nearly double the area of the previous one and includes 37 beds, compared to 20 previously.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis had the opportunity to visit the Cardiology, Internal Medicine, septic surgery, Orthopedic examination room, the short-term care unit, and the Pediatric department. The new building, with a budget of 6 million euros, is a donation from the Charitable Foundation of Athanasios and Marina Martinos.

The Prime Minister was also briefed on the progress of the reconstruction works of the Child Psychiatry Clinic, with a capacity of 115 beds, as well as the general operation of the hospital, which served 28% more patients in 2024 compared to 2019, thanks to the increase in staff.

At the same time, he conversed with the medical and nursing staff, as well as patients, about the government’s plans to upgrade the National Health System by reinforcing the staff, procuring new equipment, and modernizing the building infrastructure.

At the end of the visit, the Prime Minister stated: “First of all, I am very happy to visit ‘Asclepius’ and especially the ER. I want to sincerely thank Thanasis Martinos for yet another important donation for the substantial upgrade of the ER. And I think that this image we see today at ‘Asclepius’ is essentially, dear Thanasis, an image of the future, as interventions are already underway in many ERs and hospitals across the country, funded by the Recovery Fund.

Therefore, in the coming months, we will begin inaugurating these departments, so that the main complaint of citizens regarding ERs and shift management can start to be tackled at its root.

But I must also congratulate the hospital administration for the significant progress made both in terms of the staff that has joined the hospital and, I think, overall in terms of the quality of the services provided.

Step by step, health is changing, it cannot change overnight nor can we fix all the problems of the past, but we will continue to insist on implementing a plan, the next phase of which will include full digital monitoring of the patient’s journey through the shift, something I believe will improve both the work of the medical staff and, overall, the patient’s experience.

And finally, I want to express my satisfaction with the fact that at the entrance/exit of the shift there is an easy evaluation system. We want citizens to be able to tell us their opinion about the experience they have, because while the voices and the cries that are heard are good, and they are reasonable, we have democracy, and every protest is obviously constitutionally protected, but the final judge is the citizen, whom we must listen to, both in terms of their complaints to become better, and also when they give praise, as they often do, I believe, for the National Health System, to draw strength from that recognition and continually strive to be better.”

On his part, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis mentioned: “Let me tell you that at the Recovery Fund, Mr. President, we have put together a program where we will give all our citizens the opportunity to judge the services provided in real-time. And so, in a year from today, we will have a comprehensive system where everyone will truly be able to say both the good and the bad about the NHS. We have nothing to hide. The NHS is progressing, and you can see it. There will always be complaints, but the NHS is progressing. This is the reality, and I want to sincerely thank Mr. Martinos for the donation.”

“Mr. President, thank you very much for your visit, for the good of the hospital, it really honors us. We, the residents of the southern suburbs, love this hospital,” said Thanasis Martinos on behalf of the donors.