Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the Athens General Anticancer–Oncology Hospital “Agios Savvas,” shortly after the inauguration of nine renovated operating beds.

Accompanied by the Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis, and the Deputy Minister, Marios Themistocleous, the Prime Minister had the opportunity to see the fully renovated, state-of-the-art operating rooms and to speak with staff and patients.

The renovation and upgrading of the operating beds—seven of which will be put into operation next Monday—was funded through the Recovery Fund, as part of the broader upgrade of the National Health System’s infrastructure across all regions of the country.

Approximately 550 surgeries per month

With this intervention, combined with the three operating beds at the “Nikos Kourkoulos” Day Care Center, the capacity of operating theaters for oncology cases at “Agios Savvas” is essentially doubled. As a result, it is estimated that approximately 550 surgeries will be performed each month.

Thanks to the increased capacity of the surgical infrastructure, it is expected that within three months of full operation all patients currently on the hospital’s waiting list will be treated. The waiting list remained limited despite the fact that the works required the temporary relocation of the beds, initially to “Nikos Kourkoulos” and subsequently to GNA “Elpis.”

“We will not have substantial waiting times”

Following the visit, the Prime Minister stated:

“2026 begins with very positive prospects for ‘Agios Savvas,’ the largest anticancer hospital in our country. Indeed, I would like to congratulate the Ministry, but above all all the employees, for this extremely important project.

As the Minister said, these operating rooms were fully reconstructed, essentially while in operation, without any delay to oncology surgeries. With their modernization and the significant increase in their number, we will no longer have—practically within three months from now—substantial waiting times for any oncology surgery.

The National Health System is changing. The Recovery Fund is being fully utilized to carry out the largest infrastructure upgrade program in the history of the National Health System. But of course, nothing can be done without our doctors and nurses, who keep the National Health System standing, and I believe that this has a special significance especially in an anticancer hospital.

And of course, I have said it many times and I will say it again: I do not think that ‘Agios Savvas’ has anything to envy from any anticancer hospital anywhere in the world, and this is something that I believe is confirmed first and foremost by the patients themselves.”

Operating beds increased to 11

The Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis, noted:

“Mr. President, we are extremely proud. This is the most difficult project we carried out among all the Recovery Fund projects in the National Health System, because we chose—so as not to lose the funds—to carry it out while the hospital was operating.

This meant that the staff of this hospital—who put their heart into it, and whom I would like to thank—ensured that during this difficult interim period the list of oncology surgeries did not increase at all. They performed 2,800 surgeries in other facilities so that we could carry out this project and not lose the funds, which is very difficult. At the beginning we were even considering whether it could be done; it was one of the projects we were debating whether to include or not.

In the end, it was done. Many believed it could not be done. And most importantly: by increasing the operating beds from five to eleven, practically within at most three months from today there will be no waiting at all at ‘Agios Savvas’ for surgery. This has never happened in the National Health System since its founding, and we thank you very much for this.”

The Minister of Health added:

“Recently, just a few months ago, we became one of the 120 reference centers of excellence for oncology treatment in Europe. We received the highest distinction possible—there is no higher than this—and this is the greatest success of this hospital. And the fact that we managed to achieve it, Mr. President, with our older infrastructure makes it even more difficult. I want to thank them, because Greece now has a hospital that is among the 120 best in all of Europe.”