Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the General Anti-cancer Oncology Hospital of Athens “Agios Savvas” today, Thursday (8/1), shortly after the inauguration of nine renovated surgical wards. Specifically, the prime minister, accompanied by Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis and Deputy Minister Marios Themistocleous, had the opportunity to see the fully renovated, state-of-the-art operating rooms and speak with staff and patients.
It’s worth noting that the renovation and upgrade of the surgical wards, seven of which will become operational next Monday, was funded through Recovery Fund resources, as part of the broader upgrade of National Health System infrastructure across all regions of the country.
With this intervention, combined with the three beds at the “Nikos Kourkoulos” Day Care Center, the surgical capacity for oncology cases at “Agios Savvas” essentially doubles, with the result that it is estimated that approximately 550 procedures will be performed monthly.
With the strengthening of surgical infrastructure capacity, it is estimated that all patients currently on the hospital’s waiting list will be served within three months from the full operation of the rooms. The list remained limited, despite the fact that the work required temporary relocation of the wards, first to “Nikos Kourkoulos” and then to General Hospital “Elpis”.
Mitsotakis visit to “Agios Savvas” hospital: “The operating rooms were completely reconstructed”
After the visit, Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated: “2026 begins with very positive omens for ‘Agios Savvas’, the largest cancer hospital in our country. And indeed, I want to congratulate the Ministry, but primarily all the workers, for this extremely important project. As the Minister said, these operating rooms were completely reconstructed, essentially while in motion, without any delay to oncological surgeries. With modernization and the significant increase in their number, we will no longer have – practically within three months from now – substantial waiting times for any oncological surgery. Kyriakos Mitsotakis: ‘The National Health System is changing'”
The National Health System is changing. The Recovery Fund is being fully utilized to implement the largest infrastructure upgrade program in the history of the National Health System. But of course nothing can be done without our doctors, without our nurses, who keep the National Health System upright and I think that especially in a cancer hospital this has special significance. And of course, I have said it many times and I will say it again: I don’t think that ‘Agios Savvas’ has anything to envy from any cancer hospital anywhere in the world and this is something that I believe is first and foremost certified by the patients themselves”.
Adonis Georgiadis: “Surgical beds increased to 11”
For his part, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis noted: “Mr. President, we are very proud. This is the most difficult project we have done of all Recovery Fund projects in the National Health System, because we chose, in order not to lose the resources, to do this project while in operation. Which means that the workers of this hospital -who put great effort and I want to thank them- ensured that during this difficult interim period the list of oncological surgeries did not increase at all. They performed 2,800 surgeries in other spaces, so we could do this project and not lose the resources, which is very difficult. Initially we were also thinking whether it could be done, it was one of the projects we were considering whether to include or not.
It was finally done. Many believed it couldn’t be done. And most importantly: by increasing surgical beds from five to eleven, practically within three months at most from today there will be no waiting at all at ‘Agios Savvas’ for surgery. This has never happened in the National Health System since its establishment and we are very grateful for this”.
“Recently, a few months ago, we became one of the 120 centers of excellence for oncological therapy reference in Europe. We received the highest distinction possible, there is no higher than this, and this is the greatest success of this hospital. And the fact that we managed, Mr. President, to get it even with our older infrastructure, is even more difficult. And I want to thank them, because we now have in Greece a hospital that is among the 120 best in all of Europe,” he added subsequently.
