Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis discussed the new system through which citizens will book hospital appointments starting October 1st, via the 1566 phone line. He revealed that this method has added 7 million appointments per year to the 3 million that were available under the existing system. “The goal is to make access to doctor appointments extremely easy – we’re talking about free morning appointments,” the Health Minister stated on Action24, explaining that already “70 hospitals have uploaded their appointments to the platform.”
Adonis Georgiadis: We went from 3 months waiting time to 3 days
After reminding that “when we created the platform with EOPYY contracted doctors, we went from 3 months waiting time to 3 days,” he noted that “the total available appointments in hospitals was 3 million per year and gave you waiting times from 1 to 4 months depending on the specialty and hospital. With the new system we added another 7 million appointments and turned the 3 into 10 due to centralized management.”
As he explained, “as soon as we recorded them, the gaps became apparent. Without spending a single euro more, we provided an additional 7 million appointments.”
Regarding complaints about delays in payments to doctors for afternoon surgeries, Adonis Georgiadis responded that they are unpaid for the last 2 invoices. “The money exists, no one will lose it, it’s a matter of settlement. It’s a procedural issue.”
