Public hospital

Doctors and nurses working at Greece's public hospitals were on strike on Thursday and their unions held a protest march from the Health Ministry to Parliament in central Athens in demand of more staff hirings and better salaries.

Coverage of the entire Greek adult population with a Personal Physician, the start of free visits to pediatricians for 530,000 children, and the provision of a financial incentive for young doctors to choose the specialties of General Medicine or Internal Medicine, among others, is provided for in the Health Ministry’s bill on Primary Health Care.

The political leadership of the Ministry of Health presented the current state of the National Health System (ESY) in a press conference, countering claims from the opposition and health sector unions that “ESY is collapsing.”

The political leadership of the Ministry of Health will detail the new measures for income support of the doctors in the National Health System (ESY) at a press conference this morning. Additionally, they will outline the healthcare reform goals over the next three years, many of which were discussed yesterday at a meeting held at the Maximos Mansion.

A meeting on the reform goals for the next three years regarding the national healthcare system was held on Tuesday morning at the Maximos Mansion, led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The Ministry of Health is attempting to fill significant gaps in medical staff in areas of mainland Greece and the islands, with the establishment of financial incentives for 169 points on the Greek map starting from 200 euros per month and reaching up to 600 euros, even exceeding 20% of doctors’ monthly salaries, depending on their grade, specialty and region of work.

Last August, when the Alexandroupolis hospital was evacuated for the safety of patients and staff due to a raging fire, it was an unprecedented event. However, this scenario is becoming increasingly common. In the last two days, amid the firestorm in Attica, not one but three healthcare facilities were evacuated, with uncertainty about whether more health structures will need to follow.

The union representing public hospital workers, POEDIN, has called a 24-hour strike on Monday and is organizing a protest rally at 11 a.m. on downtown Athens' Syntagma Square. 

Doctors and dentists of the public national healthcare system (ESY) will soon be able to do private work outside their regular working hours and on-call duties provided that the operation of the public hospital where they work is not disturbed and that they do not divert patients from public clinics, according to a decision signed on Thursday by Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis.

One in two people who currently hold an administrative post in the public health services did not pass the tests for re-employment in the same or a similar position through the new appraisal system that came into effect in November 2023.