Health Minister on cancelled 25-euro hospitalisation fee

The 25-euro hospitalisation fee was a right measure and should not have been abolished, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said on Friday.

"Its purpose is to rationalize the system and stop the virtual hospitalisations, which are numerous," he said at private station Vima FM. The fee was introduced on January 1 for patients entering hospitals but was revoked this month over fierce opposition and its assessed revenues will be replaced by a rise in tobacco tax.

"There is an issue with the troika whether what we did is a tax or a structural measure in health. If you ask me whether we are risking (receiving) the next tranche for the 25-euro hospitalisation fee, the answer is no. There is no such problem. But in essence we replaced a structural measure with a tax," Georgiadis added.

Regarding National Organisation for the Provision of Healthcare Services' (EOPYY) strikes, he said that he wanted to hold a dialogue with them, but the other side should also want it. EOPYY doctors have been on strike since mid-November. "I told them from the beginning not to go on strike in order to blackmail me. I do not accept blackmailing," he noted.