Health Min Chrysochoidis to ANA-MPA: Gov’t planning incentives to keep young doctors in Greece, speeding up hiring procedures

Improved salaries for doctors and initiatives to encourage them to remain in Greece and become part of the National Health System were among the topics mentioned by Health Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis in an extensive interview to Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA).

Athens, Greece.– Chrysochoidis asserted that 10,000 hirings would be completed in the second term of the government and noted that “medical and nursing staff incomes were raised in multiple ways,” and raises would also gradually be introduced for NHS administrative staff and the entire public sector.

“A vital issue for Greece is that young doctors remain in Greece, and therefore in the NHS. Providing incentives is a priority, not just in economic terms, that will boost their willingness to remain” in Greece rather than seek work abroad, the minister said.

Asked by ANA-MPA how the hiring of medical staff would be carried out, Chrysochoidis said that procedures would be digital, without sacrificing meritocracy. “There will be a council in each health region and by specialty that will be assigned with all evaluation processes for candidates. At the same time, the deadlines for the submission and evaluation of document proof will be shortened. These are processes that will be carried out with meritocracy and objective criteria, taking into account both the basic requirements and the outcome of a personal interview. The entire process will be simplified through digital means – both the application process and the evaluation will be carried out digitally.”

Speaking of the issue of surgeries at” public hospitals and efforts to coordinate lists and cross out completed operations, the health minister said that “the platform is expected to start operating by the end of the year. That way, we will be able to know the number of our fellow-citizens who are waiting for a scheduled operation. Those who have been waiting the longest will have priority in surgeries. Further announcements will take place soon.”

Chrysochoidis asserted that “the public nature of NHS will not change” but he spoke of the need for synergies with the private sector “ without additional cost for the patient, because what is primary is serving citizens.”

Disabilities services

The minister also spoke in his interview to ANA-MPA of a bill that will set up 18 Increased Care Units for vascular and cerebral episodes, and the goal of “reducing disabilities, death, and pain for countless patients and their families” following episodes, and referred to Tuesday’s announcement (yesterday) of a national plan to manage dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Among other issues he referred to were setting rules for and evaluations of public hospital administrations that would go into effect as of 2024, new and dynamic scientists and administrators in health-related agencies, and the system of tracing distribution of drugs that will go live soon and will help alert authorities about medicine shortages in a timely way.

In addition, as of January 1, 2025, Greece will be included in the Unified European Policy of Medical Technologies and Medications Evaluation, codifying evaluations for new health technologies and drugs, which patients at NHS have direct and full access to. “There is no drug or process that is being implemented in Europe and has not entered Greece as well,” Chrysochoidis concluded.