Nikos Androulakis: We propose doctors with permanent positions

Greek private health expenditure is the second highest in Europe, PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL) leader Nikos Androulakis said on Monday, after meeting in parliament with the Panhellenic Medical Association at their request.

"The Eurostat data is revealing," he said. "The Greek people pay the second-highest private expenditures in Europe. Instead, then, of the government taking initiatives to revive the National Health Service (NHS), it has resorted to blackmail. But by blackmailing the private doctors over electronic prescriptions, it is like blackmailing patients."

(Androulakis was referring to issues resulting from lack of NHS doctors on islands and other areas. The government has tabled a bill on mental health foreseeing that private doctors refusing to work for NHS will not have access to the system issuing prescriptions online.)

PASOK proposes that "a national dialog with all parties," he said, especially since "PASOK is the party that envisioned, founded, and strengthened the NHS, and it is our priority to rebuild it." Androulakis proposed "doctors with permanent positions, a new health map, and a serious utilization of the Recovery Fund" to make the system more competitive and to serve citizens during a time of great inequalities.

The Association's president, Athanasios Exadaktylos, noted that NHS needs improvements. Speaking of the article of the Health Ministry bill related to electronic prescription access, he said that "once legislated, (it) will poison the necessary collaborative relationship for the upgrade of the public health system."