PM Mitsotakis at Health Min: New four-digit number, ready by July 15, to provide answers to citizens on NHS queries

A new four-digit number, 1566, will go into effect by July 15 to provide answers to any question citizens have on the National Health System (NHS), Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday during a visit to the Health Ministry.

He added that the number is free of charge and will provide information on facilities, prescription filling, cost of drugs, and scheduling for administrative issues. "It will provide yet another key assistance to citizens so they may get answers on difficult and complex issues," the prime minister said.

Reviewing the progress made on issues of health, Mitsotakis mentioned the timely completion of all programs funded by the Recovery Fund, as well as progress on managing medical costs and the use of digital tools to control medical and drug expenditures. NHS funding in particular has been increased by 74% between 2019 and 2025, reaching 7 billion euros in total, while a program to renovate and upgrade 93 public hospitals and 156 health centers coontinues. Other changes include investing 135 million euros for the digital transformation of care services including setting up a unified health file for each citizen (MyHealthApp), and adding 302 new ambulances to the EKAV emergency service.

At Evangelismos Hospital, a new system is being tried to digitally trace patients in the hospital's emergency service, allowing a better triage and improved waiting times that can serve as a model for other public hospitals. The unified surgery waiting list introduced for all hospitals in November 2024 is another action that has consolidated various hospitals' waiting lists and culled 20,000 double entries. He also referred to waiting times for patients during hospitals' on-call schedules.

"We have repeated several times that any benefits from saving funds will return to the portfolio of the Health Ministry," the premier underlined, while noting that a real revolution was taking place in digital health, in particular with the Europe-wide Greek innovation of a patient's single online file that will provide the medical history of each person.

Mitsotakis also expressed satisfaction and saying he was moved that 2.5 million Greek citizens took advantage of preventative programs to go for health screenings, particularly in remote areas. The programs included cancer screenings for breast and colon cancers.

"Many of our fellow citizens were literally saved. This is not just words. They found all sorts of illnesses and malignancies through a preventative examination that they did because the Greek state went and found them and urged them to be tested. Do not ignore the message you get," the PM urged.

The premier particularly noted improvements in issues of mental health, particularly of children and teenagers, who he said are now more aware and more likely to speak up. Mitsotakis praised the work achieved at the Ministry of Health. "Our obligation at any rate is to be able to provide each young person who seeks some sort of support on mental health issues the ability to have this support through the NHS. It is a great challenge which we will discuss in more detail at one of our future meetings," he added.

"We still have a lot of work ahead," he said, yet adding that "the progress we have achieved is undeniably significant."

As the PM noted, his visit to the Health Ministry was carried out in the context of regular meetings he has "to review the progress of introducing a new NHS, as we have committed to."

PM Mitsotakis had the opportunity to visit Evangelismos Hospital with Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis, and be briefed by the hospital's governor about the implementation of the pilot tracing of emergency cases, which was put into action last week. He also spoke with staff and patients and was briefed on the triage steps leading to hospitalization, which reduces waiting time for all patients and improves services provided by the hospital through field experience.

The system is expected to be ijntroduced to another 14 public hospitals by mid-July, and to a total of 100 by January 2026.

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