His reaction Panhellenic Medical Association caused by the provision added by the minister Adonis Georgiades in the Mental Health Bill
of health, allowing the demand of doctors, so as to cover the gaps in NHS hospitals.

In more detail, the announcement of the Panhellenic Medical Association:

“As an additional provision to the mental health bill, the disgraceful regulation of the Ministry of Health that allows the requisition of private doctors in order to cover the gaps in the staffing of the NSS.

It is known in Greek society that the gaps did not arise either unnecessarily or suddenly. They arose due to the discrediting of the NHS and the inconsistency of the Ministry of Health itself to institutionalize the incentives for barren and problematic areas that have been legislated for years. They arose as a consequence of the state’s refusal to comply with the decisions of the Council of State and the Supreme Court, which mandate the restoration of the salaries of NHS doctors to the pre-memorandum levels. They arose from the lack of job announcements, while in recent years there have been more than 6,000 vacancies and judgments are made with huge and unjustified delays.

It is obvious that the Ministry of Health, with the disgraceful regulation it introduces for voting, is trying to cover up its own incompetence, using methods that are only appropriate for authoritarian regimes. It is incomprehensible and insulting what was heard from the Minister of Health about the alleged debt of doctors towards the state, when the self-sacrifice shown by the medical community during the pandemic is known, which the ministry is now reciprocating in a way that is contemptuous of the medical profession. As is understandable, this move by the ministry cancels all the bona fide initiatives taken by PIS in order to operate the 14 Hospitals that presented the biggest staffing problems.

Unfortunately, the measures are not only aimed at doctors. They are also directed at the expense of patients, since even the withdrawal of prescriptions is used as a coercive measure against doctors who will refuse to comply with the authoritarian methods of the Ministry of Health. However, prescribing is a modern means of handling the treatment of patients and not a prerogative of doctors, as the minister misleadingly claims.

It goes without saying that the measure will worsen the overall situation, as doctors in shortage specialties will avoid islands and barren areas, while “undesirable” specialties will attract fewer and fewer new doctors. The institution of the personal doctor will regress and in the end the only winners will be the patients of central Europe

THE Panhellenic Medical Association:

He declares that he will exhaust all legal measures, inside and outside the country, in order to cancel the shameful provisions of the bill

He calls on medical MPs to consider the magnitude of the responsibility they shoulder by agreeing to vote in favor of provisions that flatten the medical profession and create a precedent for requiring every other professional branch that does not accept the imposition of extermination measures.

He calls on the Medical Associations to meet and take immediate initiatives, so that doctors throughout the country do not prescribe and issue or execute referrals from Friday, July 26 until the passing of the bill in the Plenary of the Parliament.

It calls on Medical Associations to issue Press Releases and grant press conferences to inform local community agencies and citizens and to issue announcements for doctors to deliver to patients, explaining the reasons for mobilizing the medical community.

The PIS will be positioned through its President during the hearing of bodies in the Social Affairs Committee of the Parliament and will convene a conference tomorrow with the Presidents of all the Medical Associations of the country, in order to examine our further moves. He will also hold a press conference, the exact day and time of which we will update with a new Press Release.”