Hatzidakis: Digital KEPA and the National Disability Portal are coming to improve the daily life of thousands of people

“Digital KEPA and the National Disability Portal are coming to improve the daily life of thousands of people with disabilities in practice,” said the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Kostis Hatzidakisin the context of the presentation of the new reform, in the presence of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

As Mr. Hatzidakis mentioned, the Disability Certification Centers (KEPA) were intertwined with the inconvenience, indignation and delays in the issuance of certification decisions. “The Public Administration has always exhausted its bureaucratic obsession with our most vulnerable fellow citizens. He found a thousand and two ways to trouble those citizens who normally should have supported in every way and every time they needed the certification of their disability” noted the Minister of Labor and emphasized that, “in the face of this absurdity, “we could not stay inactive. That’s why, from the first moment I came to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, I wanted to focus on how our fellow citizens with disabilities will be able to see in practice their daily life and their relationship with EFKA, OPEKA and KEPA, improve” underlined Mr. Hatzidakis.

Overall effort to deal with the problems surrounding KEPAs

In this context, the Minister of Labor stated that a comprehensive effort to deal with the problems surrounding KEPAs has already begun.

In particular, he said the following: Last year, their first operating regulation was established. Until then, KEPAs operated with scattered circulars and an unclear framework of procedures and responsibilities.

In addition, the mandatory review by KEPA for irreversible diseases was abolished. “We put an end to an unreasonable suffering experienced by tens of thousands of citizens with irreversible diseases. Now, these people are examined once, and their disability rate is valid for life,” said Mr. Hatzidakis.

Also, the upgrading of KEPA’s building facilities in Thessaloniki progressed. At the same time, as the Minister of Labor added, the procedures for relocating the KEPA of Athens to modern facilities that will be created on the grounds of the Peace and Friendship Stadium are underway. In addition, electronic appointments were established for both EFKA and KEPA. E-appointments have eliminated queues and significantly reduced the suffering of people with disabilities – over 500,000 e-appointments have been implemented for KEPA cases in the last 2.5 years.

“Today, we come and present with the Minister of Digital Governance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, another important reform. Digital KEPA and the National Disability Portal. This is a complex and multi-level reform, which digitizes and simplifies the entire disability certification process,” explained the Minister of Labor.

The four main changes

Among other things, Mr. Hatzidakis analyzed the four main changes, which are summarized as follows:

“First, consecutive visits to KEPA are abolished. Until yesterday, three to four visits to KEPA were required for the citizen to be able to certify his disability. Today, only one visit is required on the day of his examination by the board of doctors. Everything else will be done electronically.

Secondly, the uniform medical opinion on disability is created, which will apply to all individual benefits of the state to our disabled fellow citizens. Disability allowances, disability pension, extra-institutional allowance, etc. are considered benefits. What does this mean in simple words: Until recently, for each State benefit, separate applications were required that led to separate examinations and opinions. With the new procedure, a single examination and a single medical opinion is sufficient in order to issue the single medical opinion. The insured person will first receive the uniform medical opinion electronically and then apply to EFKA, OPECA, etc., to receive the benefit.
With the new procedure, citizens entitled to more than one benefit can use the single opinion, saving additional time and avoiding inconvenience.

Thirdly, the fee of 46 euros is abolished. It is indicative that, in the last five years, more than 250,000 citizens, who wanted to be certified by KEPA, paid this fee.

Fourth, the National Disability Portal is put into operation and all the functions of interest to people with disabilities are gradually gathered in it.”

The next reforms

In the next period, as noted by the Labor Minister, four more reforms will be implemented, which will further improve the daily life of people with disabilities.

Specifically:

– The Digital Disability Register is established, in which all certified persons with disabilities in the country are registered. “The Register has been a timeless demand of the disabled movement”.

– The Disability Card is established, which draws its data from the Registry, through which disabled people can digitally certify their status, in order to exercise their respective rights. One card that will be valid for all services and all contacts of the disabled with the State. “This is another important digital reform, which will be financed with the resources of the Recovery Fund and the gradual start of operation will begin on November 1, 2022” explained Mr. Hatzidakis.

– The Special Body of Doctors (ESI) of KEPA is being reformed. Doctors will be able to join the ESI, not only from the State (as was the case until now), but also from the private sector, passing a special training program. In this way, the House’s potential is increased to make the examinations faster, and at the same time it is enriched with new and modern specialties. It is noted that until today, there was no pediatrician specialty in the Medical Corps and children’s examinations were done by doctors of other specialties.

– “Finally, the institution of the Personal Assistant, which is new for Greece, is being promoted, which will contribute to the smooth integration of many of our disabled fellow citizens into economic and social life,” emphasized the Minister of Labor.

Afterwards, Mr. Hatzidakis underlined that all the above actions were planned and implemented in collaboration with the disabled movement. Indicatively, he mentioned the cooperation of the ministry with the National Confederation of Persons with Disabilities and its president, Yannis Vardakastanis, and also thanked those who worked for this important reform, such as, among others, Kyriakos Pierrakakis and his team, the Deputy Minister of Labor, Panos Tsakloglou and the general secretary, Paulina Karasiotou, the deputy ministers, Domna Michailidou and Maria Syreghela, the administrator of EFKA, Panagiotis Doufexis, the administrator of OPECA, Xenia Papastavrou and the deputy administrator Fai Karpodini. He also thanked EFKA deputy commanders Nikos Pagonis, to whom the responsibility of KEPA falls, and Alexandros Varveris, who handled the digital part on behalf of the agency, George Gerapetritis for his support and commitment to the implementation of the National Action Plan for the rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for his persistence in supporting persons with disabilities and in his directions, in order to improve their daily lives in practice.

“Today, we are taking a strong and decisive step. Much remains to be done. However, I think that, in the last three years or so, many and important steps have been taken to finally end decades-old pathologies – and this is what we will continue to do,” said the Minister of Labor.

For his part, the president of the National Confederation of Persons with Disabilities (E.S.A.me.A.), Yiannis Vardakastanis, expressed his satisfaction with the new reform, pointing out that it facilitates and simplifies the procedures.

RES-EMP

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