Tsipras presents SYRIZA plan for new health system
Α plan for a new National Health System (NHS) as proposed by SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance was presented by party leader Alexis Tsipras at an online event on Tuesday.
The plan, which the main opposition leader called "a mini-revolution" envisages a rise in expenditures in four years to the European average of 7 percent of GDP. It also would begin with an infusion of 3 billion euros from the very first year, a redistribution of expenditures, and a new model of evaluating resources.
Tsipras blamed the government for "being in the red" with lack of resources at public hospitals and said that some of the 6,500 casualties of Covid-19 could have been saved by an effective and reliable health system attending to the sick people faster.
The new NHS would be based on three main axes, he explained:
First, a new social contract with medical and administrative staff in public health, with a salary rise;
Second, a state budget contribution to the NHS of nearly 2 billion euros during the first year, supplemented by another 1 billion euros from the EU Recovery Fund; and
Third, the redistribution of financial resources within the system, based on international economic reports and practices.
Some of the provisions of the new plan would include additional hirings in permanent positions of health sector stasff that left the system without being replaced (5,500 people), the hiring of another 10,000 permanent health staff in the next three years, and the turning into permanent staff of all the medical and nursing staff that were at the front lines of fighting the coronavirus pandemic in Greece.
Other provisions include more primary care centers (from the current 127 to 380 nationally), a network for at-home care, and lower patient contribution prices for pharmaceuticals for those with chronic diseases.
