His draft law is now being submitted to the plenary session for discussion and voting. Ministry of Health care for secondary care, while the health workers demanding its abolition are now stepping up their mobilization.

EINAP announced today a 24-hour strike and rally in parliament at 13:00 with a parallel call for work centers, ADEDY and grassroots organizations to take part in the rally.

OENGE has declared a 24-hour nationwide strike while work centers in Attica continue to strike.

For its part, POEDIN announced a suspension of work from 11.00 to 15.00 and a rally at 13.00 in Parliament to withdraw the health care bill.

ADEDY also announced a nationwide suspension of work from 12:00 until the end of the working day, calling on the district departments, in cooperation with the primary unions of each prefecture, to mobilize to prevent the passage of the health bill.

The reaction of the parties

Among other things, the bill allows the employment of NHS doctors in the private sector (Article 10) and provides for the announcement of vacancies for part-time NHS doctors (Article 7).

ND deputies have already voted for him in the relevant parliamentary committee. The deputies of SYRIZA, KKE and MERA voted against, while the deputies of the Movement for Change and the Hellenic Solution reserved themselves for debate in the plenary session.

“The bill has strong support from the Hellenic Patients’ Union and the Rare Patients’ Union, and everything else is probably trade union based,” current Deputy Health Minister Asimina Gaga said, commenting on opposition reports of opposition by medical associations and NHS doctors to the controversial provisions.

As Ms. Gaga said, the bill aims to strengthen the National Health Service, improve the skills of doctors and central planning, taking into account the needs of the people of Greece and its visitors. “Fortunately, next time ND is in government, the bill will be passed well and the National Social Security system will work even better,” Ms Gaga said, responding to official opposition estimates that this legislative initiative will cost the ruling parties politically. .

Minority rapporteur Andreas Xanthos said the government is proceeding with final passage of the bill amid major “social and political delegitimization” without the consent of the medical world, healthcare providers and the opposition.

“With this bill, the government is giving the NSS a free hand, both for reasons of ideological obsession with the neo-liberal concept of less state, and pressure and influence from large business circles who seek to attract real, experienced and reliable people. resources for private healthcare facilities,” said Mr. Xanthos.

PASOK Movement for Change leader G. Frangidis stressed that the opposition, as well as the vast majority of stakeholders, reject the bill’s philosophy. He noted that, at its core, government legislation is part of a plan to privatize health care.

The leader of the KKE, Giorgos Lambroulis, again spoke about the extreme bill, which should be “withdrawn”. The bill has been universally condemned by hospital doctors and their collective bodies, said Mr. Lambroulis, who denounced the government for its policy of supporting business groups in the healthcare sector.

Hellenic Solution buyer Maria Athanasiou said the bill would lead to further degradation of healthcare services, further commercialization of public healthcare and gigantization of the private healthcare sector.

Finally, MERA25 buyer Maria Apatsidis pointed out that not only medical associations of public hospitals but also medical associations representing the private sector oppose the bill. It’s a “road-laying bill” for secondary care, he says, that “sweeps away what’s left of people’s right to free healthcare.”

According to APE-MBE, ERT