He then referred to the finddoctors.gov.gr platform, where citizens can make appointments with any doctor they wish. “Citizens can go in and book their appointments online without any hassle. Their mandatory implementation will start from February 1,” the health minister said, speaking on the “Society Hour MEGA” show today.
More than 600 permanent posts have been advertised for the NHS.
Regarding on-call duties, Matina Pagoni stressed that urban-type health centres are needed, which will help the hospitals’ general on-call duties in terms of workload, while stressing that the trunk hospitals that are on-call every day are not coping.
“Right now our problem is the works in the ICUs at Evangelismos, it takes about 4-5 months to complete. Since the TEPs of Evangelismos are not functioning, which is the flagship of the system, no matter how much of a magician I am, since the project started, a lot of people go to Hippocrates and Laiko and this has put pressure on the emergencies,” Adonis Georgiades said.
“I acknowledge the inconvenience of the people, I have made a bet to reduce this inconvenience to the extent possible,” he added.
According to the Health Minister, over 600 permanent positions have been advertised for the HCA.
“We cannot postpone reforms for union reasons”
During his appearance on the show, and through his account on “X”, Adonis Georgiades also referred to the criticism he has received from doctors’ trade unions, which have referred to attempts to “drive” medical appointments.
“We cannot postpone reforms for union reasons,” the minister said.
Following is his op-ed in “X”:
“Yesterday, I posted this message to make patients aware of the new easy and free way to make appointments with doctors either in the Public Structures or those contracted with EOPYY so that there is transparency and they are not inconvenienced:
“The@YpYgGR, in cooperation with EOPYY and H.D.I.K.A. S.A., is proceeding with the introduction of new electronic services that facilitate citizens’ access to health structures. These services extend the possibility of electronic appointment scheduling to physicians of Primary Health Care structures and now include the electronic booking of appointments with all EOPYY contracted physicians.
The system is already available and operational. In this context, all EOPYY contracted physicians are requested to complete the necessary preparatory actions by 31 January 2025, under the instructions of the H.D.I.K.A. SA. The relevant instructions can be found in the “Help” section of the http://e-prescription.gr/e-rv/d platform. Alternatively, interested parties may contact the Help Desk of H.I.K.A. at 11131.
The universal implementation of the system will begin on February 1, 2025, allowing people to book their appointments electronically via the website http://finddoctors.gov.gr.
With a view to continually improving health services, the Ministry of Health is committed to continuing to provide innovative solutions that meet the needs of citizens.”
What I didn’t tell you yesterday was that this self-evident 2025 reform that will serve thousands of people is being opposed by doctors’ unions and in particular by the PIS of Mr Varnavas. They went so far yesterday as to call on doctors to disobey: “The exact phrase of their press release was ‘ignore them’, i.e. ignore not the Minister but the patients who will make their appointments over the internet.
As outrageous as it sounds, the PISC in 2025 is seriously saying that they will not accept their appointments being booked via an online platform.
Just as in the summer when PIS called on doctors to abstain from e-prescribing and thankfully no doctor followed suit, I am sure that no doctor will now follow in union practices that hark back to 1980.
Besides, in the design of the platform we have included all the requests of the medical world so that it has the necessary flexibility.
Life and progress will not stop at union excesses!”
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