The drastic reform and reduction of the NHS is one of the central political priorities of this four-year government mandate, stressed Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, from the Ministry of Health, who visited today, Wednesday, morning.
In his remarks after the visit, Mr Mitsotakis stressed that restructuring the National Health System is a difficult exercise and noted that the time has come to courageously face perennial problems.
“And that is exactly what we are doing by implementing a very bold framework of reforms across all aspects of healthcare. Reforms that I believe citizens will soon begin to see and discover for themselves as users of the National Social Security System,” Mr Mitsotakis noted.
As he stressed, the reforms are not just about infrastructure. “They are about adding the necessary personnel, about rearranging tasks, about using technology, about addressing the perennial problems and deficiencies that we have in the arid areas, on our islands, in the mountainous areas,” he added.
Mr Mitsotakis stressed that the government has the plan and the will to implement these bold reforms. “We have a very good team in the Ministry of Health and now the responsibility for implementing what we have agreed is on you,” he said.
He made special mention of issues related to public health and preventive examinations, stressing that “as important as it is to improve health services in our hospitals, health does not begin and end at the hospital door”. That is why we attach great importance to primary health, preventive examinations and also to public health with programmes that will allow us to have a globally healthy population so that we can prevent and not necessarily intervene after the fact”.
Furthermore, he stressed that “the experience of the pandemic has forced us all to acquire more specialized knowledge on NHS issues and you know very well that I personally follow this portfolio because I fully recognize the great importance and the great priority that health has for all citizens”.
“And of course we have to listen to the patients. They are the ones who will ultimately help us evaluate the NHS, tell us what we are not doing well, tell us what we are doing well because the National Health System, despite the great difficulties, is standing strong”, noted the Prime Minister.