Solving the suffering of people with disability with many months of delays in appointments and constant visits to certification centers for persons with disabilities, OPECA and FECA are striving to give one of the many measures regarding persons with disabilities, as they have already been adopted and are gradually being implemented. it’s about her Establishment of the Special Physician Group (ESI) of KEPAwith the involvement of doctors from the private sector, in order to increase the number of participants and speed up examinations and certifications.

Since, of course, effective policy making requires knowledge of all beneficiaries and the benefits they receive, the plan also provides for the creation A digital disability register that is directly linked to the full implementation and operation of the disability card.. It should be noted that OPECA annually pays more than 870 million euros to people with disabilities, while EFKA, through the 3 benefits it gives, which actually increased this year in general, years later, by 8%, but also the absolute disability benefit. pays another 450 to 500 million euros. Finally, central planning includes the creation of uniform rules for the disabled, a reform that is expected to be planned by the next government. However, the current law, adopted in July last year, provides, among other things, for the complete digitalization – with simultaneous simplification – of the disability certification process, that is, on a disabled person card.

Of course, since two important reforms regarding the creation of the Register of Disabled Persons and the Register of KEPA Doctors have not yet been put into effect, significant arrhythmias, with an increase in waiting time for an appointment, although the goal was just the opposite. As Secretary General of Social Insurance Paulina Caraciotu explained in an interview with K, the process of electronic registration of disability through KEPA is already “going” at a significant pace, since now it is enough for insured persons to visit the Centers only once, on the day of application. examining them, rather than at earlier stages of the process (for example, applying in person for a certificate of disability, as has been done so far). In practice, this means that all procedures, except for the medical examination of the applicant by the health committee, are carried out digitally.

It should be noted that until the first months of 2023, applications were cleared under the old system. The process is currently “started” with electronic filing and once a stakeholder meeting is scheduled, the opinion is also issued electronically, in most cases very soon.

Central to normalizing the process is expected to be the creation of a Special Body of Physicians (SBO), in whose Register physicians who are members of health committees will be registered. ESI will no longer consist only of EFKA and EOPPY doctors, but and private doctors who must successfully complete the relevant seminar. Thus, Ms. Karasiotu, the need to enrich the ward with new doctors and modern specialties, which are already being worked out and will be determined by by-laws, will be addressed.

And, of course, big changes will come with the Digital Registry of Disabilities, which will register people with disabilities who are eligible for benefits. This digital registry will be directly linked to the disabled person’s card, which will receive information from it so that people with disabilities can confirm their status in order to exercise their respective rights. In practice, in full A disability card will confirm the identity of its holder and the status of a person with a disability before any government agency. third party and will replace any document/certificate currently in use. And, as the Secretary General of Social Insurance points out, in the Benefits Register, people with disabilities will have access to all the rights and benefits to which they are entitled, as they will be collected on an electronic site so that they can be informed about the special conditions for each.

Finally, the action of the Ad Hoc Scientific Committee set up to finalize the Table of Disability Establishment Factors compiled by the government of SYRIZA is also considered important, and now, after two amendments in 2021 and 2022, it is quite close to ICD10. (International Classification of Diseases) World Health Organization. Of course, since its effect is permanent, new changes are planned over the next period based on developments in the field of medicine, as well as gaps identified by doctors from KEPA and other institutions.