Health Minister Andreas Loverdos on Tuesday underlined that the ministry's volition to guarantee the Greek system of free access to hospitals, in response to negative reports in foreign media alleging that the economic crisis has made the National Health System (ESY) virtually inaccessible to the Greek people.
In a press conference focusing on the work done over the past year, Loverdos referred to cutbacks in pharmaceutical expenditures, pointing out that medicine cost for Social Insurance Foundation (IKA) - Greece’s largest social insurance fund - was down 150 million euros in 2010. The reduction for the rest social insurance funds and the health ministry was 750m euros.
Loverdos underlined that one billion euros will be saved in 2012 and 2.5bn euros in 2013, reducing medicine cost to 2004 levels.
As regards e-tenders for hospital pharmaceutical supplies, he stressed that the cost reduction in the first auction was 85 percent compared with the initially estimated procurement cost. A second e-tender for 13 pharmaceutical substances has already been launched with a budget of 95m euros, while a third e-tender will be completed on October 31.
Referring to the ESY operating cost reduction, recorded during the past year, he stressed that spending was down 400m euros in 2010 and 500m euros in 2011.
The health minister underlined that more spending cuts are possible and used as an example cosmetic plastic surgery operations made in public hospitals that cost 2,000 euros with the surgeons using the hospital facilities and supplies. “Such illegal behaviors continue,” he said, adding that public health inspectors are investigating similar cases and that he has personally notified the first-instance court head public prosecutor Eleni Raikou.
AMNA
