On the subject of health expenses its president spoke among others SYRIZA – PS, Stefanos Kasselakis speaking today, Wednesday on OPEN TV and asking for it to be at least 5% of GDP.

“In my opinion, health spending should be at least 5% of GDP. It has to be something dynamic. You can bring enormous growth and decentralization by investing in Health. If we don’t invest in Health and Education then what are we doing in this country?” he wondered.

And he went on to say “I wish Health spending was 7% and 8% and that would create decentralized growth. That’s the main thing.”

However, this position of Stefanos Kasselakis caused reactions as the costs for Health after the pandemic have risen to 5.7%.

The answer of Adonis Georgiadis

The words of the president of SYRIZA – PS provoked the reaction of the Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis. In his post, which is accompanied by diagrams, Mr. Georgiadis points out that the president of SYRIZA “asks us to reduce health spending” recalling that in 2022 it was at 5.1% of GDP, according to ELSTAT, and “now we estimate them at approximately 5.8% of GDP”.

The Minister of Health notes, in fact, that “the public expenditure from 8,634 million in 2018 has reached 10,881 in 2022 and has an additional increase in 2023 and 2024”.

Mr. Georgiadis’ post in detail

The post of Adonis Georgiadis

“@skasselakis asked today on @opentvgr that spending on Health must go to at least 5% of GDP. According to @StatisticsGR in 2022 they were already 5.1% and they went up in 2023 and will go up again in 2024. Now we estimate them at around 5.8% of GDP. So the President of @syriza_gr is asking us to reduce them. Public expenditure from 8634 million in 2018 has reached 10881 in 2022 and has an additional increase in 2023 and 2024”

New Left: Deep ignorance of society’s needs

New Left also issued a statement after the statements of Stefanos Kasselakis, commenting that “every time Mr. Kasselakis talks in detail about his program, his profound ignorance of both the needs of Greek society and the program of his party is revealed he leads”, commenting that “his ‘Greek dream’ is the other side of New Democracy’s politics”.

Specifically, it mentions that “the president of SYRIZA in his interview today stated that public investment for health ‘must be at least 5% of GDP'” and that “it is obvious that he has no idea what state public health has fallen into since the policies of the government of Mr. Mitsotakis”. This is because, continues the New Left, “Mr. Kasselakis has ‘scissored’ not only what his party promised in the last national elections (7.5%) but also ignores the existing expenditure of the policies of dissolution and underfunding of public health and the NHS” . On this, the New Left reports that “in 2021 public spending on health reached 5.7%, while in the following years it moved to the same anemic levels, which do not correspond to the needs of society” and that “Mr. Kasselakis, therefore, he essentially proposes a reduction in public health spending, so that it reaches levels lower than what is currently the case.”

“Society has nothing to expect from miracle workers, who engage in inexpensive communication fiestas,” he comments and emphasizes that public health must be supported immediately. The New Left proposes that public expenditure on health “be aligned with the European average (7.7%) in order to lay the foundations for a stable and efficient public health system for all”.

Romanos: Health spending at 5.8% of GDP

The press representative of New Democracy, Nikos Romanos, also commented on what Stefanos Kasselakis said.

“Mr. Kasselakis informed us today that his goal is to… reduce health spending. As he stated in an interview, health spending should amount to “at least 5% of GDP”.

We therefore inform the leader of the Official Opposition that today the expenditure on Health is approximately 5.8% of the GDP with increasing trends.

Specifically, according to Eurostat data:

For 2019, when the ND took over the governance of the country, SYRIZA had given the Ministry of Health total credits of 4.1 billion. Almost 5 years later, the appropriations of the Ministry of Health will reach 6 billion in 2024.

In 2023, the total expenditure on Health (Ministry appropriations, EOPYY, University Hospitals, Primary Health Care, etc.), amounted to 11.9 billion.
And for 2024, the total expenditure on Health is expected to exceed 12.8 billion, i.e. it is expected to exceed 5.8% of GDP.

In any case, much more important than the “proposal” of Mr. Kasselakis, which even contradicts the program of his party, is to remember what this Government has done for Health:

* From 2019 to 2024, increase spending on Health by 46.5%.
Specifically: In 2019, they amounted to 4.114 billion euros.
Every year we have consistently increased the expenditures channeled to Health to reach 5,580 billion in 2023. The forecast for 2024 is to reach 6,027 billion.
* Proceeds with the radical reform of the National Social Security System
* Routes 6,500 recruitments in the field of health only within 2024,
* Gave a 10% increase in the salaries of NHS doctors,
* Instituted afternoon surgeries,
* Increase on-call compensation,
* Channeling 2.17 billion euros from the 36 billion secured by the Recovery and Resilience Fund for renovations of Hospitals and Health Centers and for programs such as “Spyros Doxiadis”.

Certainly more must be done in Health. We are not where we want to be, but we continue to strive every day to reform the National Health System in order to provide optimal services to citizens. We proceed with a plan, reliability and method. Health is the primary social good and requires seriousness, responsibility and tangible results.”