Finally, the continuous committees for amputations and irreversible diseases in KEPA

by

The final abolition of the obligation of disabled citizens with amputations and other irreversible diseases to pass again and again committees for the certification of their specific disability was announced by the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Kostis Hatzidakis, during his visit to the Anapi Certification Center on Piraeus Street.

At the same time, he announced the relocation of KEPA services to modern and upgraded facilities at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in the coming months, in order to address problems of heating, air conditioning and lack of parking, which has the current building on Piraeus Street. At the same time, the upgrade of the respective facilities in Thessaloniki is underway.

According to a relevant announcement, “the abolition of the obligation to re-examine for irreversible diseases is included in the first regulation for the Disability Certification Centers, signed, a few days ago, by the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Panos Tsakloglou. With the enactment of the regulation, all citizens with irreversible diseases, regardless of whether they are primary or secondary, secure their degree of disability forever. Until now, this only concerned the main irreversible condition, while those who had a mutilation or other irreversible condition as a secondary condition had to go through committees over and over again at regular intervals, causing tremendous inconvenience.

In addition, with the new regulation:

1) A scattered network of rules is being consolidated and simplified, which has often caused confusion and anger to those with disabilities. Until recently, KEPA operated according to the old rules of IKA. Now, in this field as well, a substantial consolidation of all the old Funds is taking place.

2) The deadlines for appealing to the Secondary Health Committees are increased to 14 calendar days (from 10 until today).

3) The points of conduct of the Health Committees are explicitly provided to be accessible to Persons with Disabilities.

4) The obligation is defined: the insured must be informed at least seven days before the date of the examination.

5) For the first time, the methodology and the steps followed for the calculation of the disability rate are clearly reflected. Thus, the insured are fully aware of all the stages of the disability certification process, the transparency is enhanced, the confusion regarding the rights of the insured is avoided, the organization of the KEPA committees, the way of calculating the disability rate, etc.

Also, the introduction of the measure of electronic appointments during the pandemic period and for the KEPA significantly facilitated the daily life of both citizens and employees. This measure is permanent and is a good example for other public services “.

The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Kostis Hatzidakis, stated: “In the framework of the National Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities, we are announcing today two initiatives in relation to the Disability Certification Centers (KEPA). The first is self-evident, it should have been done decades ago. It concerns the disabled with amputations and other irreversible diseases. In these cases they will not have to go through committees again and again to certify the same disability. It goes without saying, but it had not happened for many years. It is finally done! The second has to do with the relocation of KEPA from the building on Piraeus Street to a new building, in new facilities, at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, with heating, air conditioning and parking spaces. That means upgrading the service in practice. “

For his part, Undersecretary of Labor and Social Affairs Panos Tsakloglou noted: “The existence of a credible disability certification mechanism is crucial for the functioning of the entire welfare state. KEPA has this role in our country. The KEPA for various reasons had not received the importance they deserved for a long time. Through various actions of the government, which have to do either with the institutional framework or with the upgrading of the logistical infrastructure, we try to improve the image of the Organization, but also the service of the citizens. In the first direction is the regulation of operation, which was created for the first time, with which we try to alleviate the suffering that the citizen suffers during these examinations. In the second direction is the relocation of the Organization. Let’s go to a new building, with much better infrastructure than the existing one and this will contribute to the better operation of the Organization and will improve the working conditions of the employees, but also the examination conditions of the insured “.

The commander of e-EFKA, Panagiotis Doufexis, underlined: “The goal of e-EFKA is for the examinations of the health committees to take place in decent places. In order to achieve this goal, relevant initiatives have been taken both in Athens and in Thessaloniki “.

Present at today’s visit to KEPA were the General Secretary of Social Insurance Pavlina Karasiotou, the deputy governor of e-EFKA Nontas Atsaves, as well as the competent service directors of the Organization.

Finally, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs emphasizes that the regulation of KEPA is part of the general effort of the government to support people with disabilities and is included as a project in the National Action Plan for the Rights of People with Disabilities.

.

You May Also Like

Recommended for you