The president of PASOK-Movement for Change, Nikos Androulakiswas the keynote speaker at the themed event “National Health System – Priority for our islands”, which was organized tonight in Naxos and was dedicated to the political legacy of the late President of the Movement, Fofi Gennimata, who worked tirelessly to strengthen public health.

“Tomorrow marks two years since the death of our beloved President, Fofi Gennimata, who worked with dedication and vision for the rebirth of the National Health System. She always placed the human being at the center of her political action and we honor this valuable political legacy today” pointed out Mr. Androulakis, recalling that in Naxos the late President had given one of her last political speeches.

“We need a flexible, efficient, competitive and pioneering public health system that will cover the real needs of the Greek people in every corner of the country. A SSY as befits the history and values ​​of our faction. As envisioned by Giorgos Gennimatas, Paraskevas Avgerinos and for whose support our late President, Fofi Gennimatas fought. For us, strengthening the social state and especially education and health is not just a programming priority. He is the soul and the heart of our faction,” stressed Mr. Androulakis.

He criticized the government noting that “New Democracy never believed in YOU and as a government sought to degrade it and sell it off to private interests. He had the opportunity to regenerate it with resources from the Recovery Fund. He did not do it. In the original plan he submitted, he directed only 4.8% of subsidies while the European average was more than double. From the first moment, we proposed the revision of the plan for the Recovery Fund, so that 8-10% of the total funds would be directed to the strengthening of public health. We have now reached the point where Greece is ranked in the group of Eastern European Union countries with the lowest public health expenditures and the highest unmet needs. The transfer of the expenditure from the public sector to the pockets of the Greek citizens, brought an additional burden to the Greek households together with the precision and the energy crisis”.

“It is unthinkable that the Greek people pay the second highest private costs for their health in the European Union, behind only Bulgaria. It does not honor us as a State that human lives are being lost on the carriages of vehicles, due to the lack of an ambulance in large islands of our country. New Democracy undermines a basic principle of the NHS: The free and universal provision of health services to citizens. The substantial abolition of the full and exclusive employment of NHS doctors, leads to the transformation of a public and social good, into an object of the private market” underlined Mr. Androulakis and cited illustrative examples of understaffing in the health structures of island Greece.

The planning for the NHS of the future includes 8 major changes, as noted by the President of PASOK-Movement for Change, and he proposed the following:

-Development of the Public Health sector, as an integrated public service, with strong structures in every Region of the country: Upgrading the EODDY to plan and evaluate policies, record and monitor the health indicators of the population and collaborate with the relevant scientists and emergency response research agencies.

– Unified system of Primary Health Care under public supervision: Creation of local networks of integrated services throughout the country. With family medicine services that arrive at our home when we need them. Emphasis on prevention with information campaigns on childhood vaccination, proper nutrition, with a national screening plan, but also dental care. Free gene control with tests for the children of those who have suffered from breast cancer, as recommended by the Hellenic Cancer Society. Strengthening the “Fofi Gennimata” program by reducing the high age limit. The mobile units can be found in the most remote areas of the country. Strengthening mental health.

-Health on the Islands: The large islands will have an adequately staffed hospital, while the smaller ones will have a Primary Health Care unit connected to the nearest hospital. For the very small islands, a regional clinic with a resident doctor. Establishment of additional financial and institutional incentives:

-Qualification for permanent positions in hospitals of their choice

– Housing allowance or rent subsidy from the state budget.

– Granting medical staff and their family members travel expenses to their permanent place of residence, once a month.

– Doubling the time of educational leave.

– Coverage by the state of the expenses for participation in pan-Hellenic scientific conferences and post-educational seminars.

– Right to co-service for hospital doctors as well.

Modern and functional Public Hospitals: With meritocratic selection of administrators through international competitions and not appointments of failed statesmen. With round-the-clock operation, especially in the surgical field and in the interventional units of each specialty with the corresponding remuneration to the staff. A new health map, which responds to population changes, so that, for example, we do not have 17 hospitals in the center of Athens but there is no hospital in the already populous Eastern Attica.

Creation of modern and innovative care units outside nursing institutions: Centers for Chronic Diseases / Day Care Units / Public Rehabilitation Centers, operating with doctors of various specialties, with the necessary health professionals and integrated social services.

Upgrading the human resources of the NHS: Covering the real gaps in the NHS with permanent medical, nursing and paramedical staff, with transparent procedures. New modern organizational charts, so that all vacant positions are announced immediately. Revision of the remuneration system, and their increase, so that the efforts of health workers are properly remunerated and also to attract high-quality and qualified personnel. Inclusion of NHS health care facilities in the severely unsanitary. Providing incentives for specialties in which there are shortages. Especially for the problems faced by young doctors:

• Improvement of working conditions and increase of salaries of the qualified.

• Utilization of new doctors who currently work abroad, in the new family medicine units.

Operation of an independent evaluation mechanism for quality control of health services.

Digital transformation of health: We bridge the quality care gap between center and periphery by developing telemedicine, teleconsultation and telemonitoring services. To implement the digital health record, the digital card, targeted preventive programs, innovative artificial intelligence applications.