Gravestone to his public character National Health System or strengthening it and strengthening its public character?
The immediate start of paid afternoon surgeries which essentially introduce the “legal” pocketbook in the public Health system must be considered certain with the Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadisto announces the price list and categories of surgeries.
The decision will be signed immediately, pointed out the responsible minister and stated: “We are not privatizing the NHS. Anyone would be a fool to think we don’t need the NHS. Our aim is to strengthen the NHS and strengthen its public character. We love ESY, that’s what we take care of and that’s what we work for.”
Press conference by the Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis on the reforms in Health and the operation of the “afternoon surgeries”.
Although the measure has been openly contested since the first day it was announced due to the serious shortages, mainly of anesthesiologists, Adonis Georgiadis showed optimism, stressing that the “reform” will give “an additional way out to a person who wants to pay a reasonable cost to be operated on” as early as possible.”
As the Minister of Health pointed out, the afternoon surgeries will be done transparently, at a much lower cost than the private sector and attention will be paid to detail. “The only place that should compete with the afternoon surgeries are the private centers, because they will have excellent scientists, organized hospitals and competitive services in front of them”, he emphasized.
Mobilizations are coming from OENGE
With the developments going on, the Federation of Associations of Hospital Doctors of Greece (OENGE) is oriented towards mobilisations, while the president of the Federation, Aphrodite Retziou, characterizes “crude and cynical” the response of the Minister of Health on how the afternoon surgeries will work.
The objection, of course, has to do with staff shortages, with the president stating (Talk Radio 98.9) that the National Health Service currently lacks 280 anesthesiologists and an additional thousands of doctors and nurses.
The new platform of the single list of surgeries will be put into public use soon.
“All life is a risk, and doctors take a risk when they are going to operate and patients when they wait a long time to operate” was the answer of Adonis Georgiadis to the questions of OENGE, Aphrodite Rezziou said and added that none of the medical staff can understand with what criteria the tariff “from 300 to 2,000” for the “afternoon surgeries” was entered, while he criticized the fact that “to be operated on, the patient has to put his hand in his pocket again, i.e. he pays taxes, insurance contributions and pays again to be operated on.”
Aphrodite Rezziou emphasized that the morning surgeries do not work not because there are no rooms but because the hospitals are understaffed and dozens of workers are missing to produce work, “public hospitals are pushed to the afternoon surgeries to gain revenue since the system is underfunded anyway for years,” he said.
The president of OENGE announced strike mobilizations on February 22 and 28 with a basic request to make mass recruitments to be able to operate the closed operating theaters.
Waiting lists
In total, 102,634 cases are waiting for an operation in our country, of which 58,175 (57%) have been waiting for more than 4 months and 26,221 (26%) for more than a year!
The total number of citizens waiting to be operated on for more than 4 and less than 12 months is 31,954.
The breakdown of incidents is as follows:
Northern Greece – 14,060 cases (44%)
Attica and Aegean Islands – 11,183 cases (35%)
Crete – 3,515 incidents (11%)
Western Greece and Peloponnese – 2,557 cases (8%)
Central Greece – 639 cases (2%)
Things get worse for citizens who wait more than 12 months for surgery.
The breakdown is:
Northern Greece – 13,897 cases (53%)
Attica and Aegean islands – 6,566 cases (25%)
Crete – 4,447 cases (17%)
Western Greece and Peloponnese – 1,049 cases (4%)
Central Greece – 262 cases (1%)
According to the analysis of the Ministry of Health, the main categories of intervention observed in Hospitals are:
Cataract Surgery 18%
Knee Arthroplasty 9%
Cholecystectomy 7%
5% Cataract Removal Surgery
Hip Arthroplasty 5%
Inguinal hernia 4%
Tonsillectomy 3%
Amounts per category of surgery
The new platform of the single list of surgeries will be put into public use in about three months, and prices in paid evening surgeries will range from 300 to 2,000 euros, according to the health minister.
According to official information from the Ministry of Health, these operations are expected to start at the beginning of March, they will be charged according to how serious they are, while patients will pay:
For very minor surgery 300 euros, for minor 500 euros, for medium 900 euros, for major 1,200 euros, for heavy 1,600 euros and for extremely heavy 2,000 euros.
Examples
A cataract operation is considered very minor or minor and will be charged by the public hospital with 300 to 500 euros. A major knee or hip replacement will be billed in afternoon clinics at 1,200 to 1,600 euros, depending on whether it is large or heavy.
It should be noted that the fees for the afternoon surgeries will be shared among the entire surgical team (surgeons, anesthetists, nursing staff).
In minor operations, surgical coordinators directors will receive 550 euros and anesthetists 350, in major operations surgeons will receive 750 euros and in very large operations 1,000 euros.
For nurses, the earnings will be more than 10 euros per hour.
The surgical coordinating directors will receive 550 euros
Reactions
PASOK’s head of health and Member of Parliament for Ioannina, Yiannis Tsimaris, issued an announcement against the decision of the health minister to establish the operation of afternoon surgeries.
In it he states the following:
“The announcement of the Minister of Health on the establishment of operation of the afternoon surgeries puts a gravestone on the public character of the National Health System.
While the government and the minister recognize that we are champions in the EU in terms of private health spending, they stipulate that citizens will pay 300 to 2,000 euros out of pocket for an afternoon surgery.
At the same time, they recognize that 40% of operating theaters are not functioning today due to lack of staff.
It is gross misinformation to link the 2001 reform with evening surgeries and the costs that patients are asked to pay.
With which doctors will the measure of evening surgeries be implemented, when today the same doctors are not enough to handle the existing surgeries?
A few days ago, the Minister of Health stated regarding the establishment of afternoon surgeries, that it would be difficult for many hospitals to implement it due to a lack of staff and that the next step would be to grant the right for private doctors to use the structures of the public hospital.
He is seriously mistaken if he thinks that with such alchemy PASOK – Movement for Change will consent to the alteration of the National Social Security System as a public good.
The welfare state is our identity and we do not bargain for it.
We will be on the other side defending the needs of the many”.
“The “price list” for the paid afternoon surgeries at the National Health Service, happily announced by the Minister of Health Ad. Georgiadis, captures in the most cynical way what the commercialization of health means for patients and all the people, which has been promoted step by step by all governments throughout time and is being taken off by the current ND government” the KKE points out, among other things, in its own comment .
