The implementation of the program is free of charge 37,500 afternoon surgeries, with resources from the Recovery and Resilience Fund, was discussed at the meeting with the political leadership of the Ministry of Health under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Emphasis will be placed on citizens who are waiting longer as part of the wider strategy to systematically reduce the backlog of surgeries in public hospitals, which is now tracked through the single digital surgery list.

The course of execution of the projects to upgrade emergency departments and other facilities in the NHS structures was also examined, in combination with best practices for the reception and distribution of incidents, with the aim of better and faster service to citizens.

The plan to further strengthen the NHS with staff, the timetable for digitizing more services in the health sector to make it easier for patients to communicate with doctors, and a review of the performance of the Ambulance Service and air transport during the summer months were also discussed. .

At the end of the meeting the Prime Minister made the following statement:

“We have completed the regular meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Health in order to specify our priorities for the coming months.

I want to remind you of her very important announcement independent taxation of vicars of NHS doctors, which will significantly boost their income from the moment the measure is implemented. A measure which, moreover, was a constant request of the NHS doctors.

The priorities for the coming months are moving to implement as quickly as possible the flagship program of free afternoon surgeries. We await the final approval of the European Commission, so that this program can start immediately. It will benefit over 30,000 of our fellow citizens and our aim is through this program to significantly reduce the waiting lists for surgery, starting from the oldest cases and going to the newest ones.

We were also concerned, once again, with the issue of incident management in hospital emergency departments. Within the next period there will be specific announcements in this direction.

We know that emergency departments are a source of dissatisfaction and often do injustice to the overall image of the National Health System. I will not dwell on the reform of the TEP, which is being launched by the Recovery Fund. Other initiatives to increase staffing are expected, especially with regard to the trauma carriers, and possibly proposals for a better management of the emergency services of Attica.

Our goal is always that our fellow citizens wait less in emergency departments, with less inconvenience, with more dignity and ultimately better served. I believe that very soon we will be able to proceed with concrete announcements of direct intervention in this critical area of ​​operation of the NHS”.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis, the Ministers of State Makis Voridis and Akis Skertsos, the Deputy Minister of Health Irini Agapidaki, the Deputy Ministers of Health Dimitris Vartzopoulos and Marios Themistokleous, and the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Thanasis Kontogeorgis.