Addiction prevention workers rally in Athens against Health Ministry bill

Workers from more than 70 addiction prevention centers across the country staged a rally in Athens on Wednesday evening to protest a draft law proposed by the Health Ministry, which they say threatens the future of their services.

"Prevention centers have been the backbone of prevention for 30 years. We need to defend and protect them," said Evangelia Ampazi, a psychologist at the prevention center on the eastern Aegean island of Samos and a member of the Panhellenic Union of Prevention Center Workers, to Kathimerini English Edition at Syntagma Square.

Although details about the proposed psychiatric reform bill remain unclear, ministry officials indicated in November that local mental health services would be merged into a single entity. Critics argue that this move would sever the ties between existing structures and the local community, which they consider crucial...