Health minister to meet with MPs disputing new hospital fee
Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis, who has come under fire over the introduction at the start of the year a 25-euro charge for patients visiting public hospitals, suggested on Monday that the measure could be scrapped if an alternative is found to prop up cash-strapped healthcare facilities.
Georgiadis told Skai television on Monday that he will be meeting on Tuesday with deputies from junior coalition partner PASOK who have pushed for the measure to be cancelled. He added that Greece’s international creditors are not opposed to the charge being scrapped but only on the condition that other revenue-raising measures are found, such as patients paying a larger contribution for expensive diagnostic tests like CAT and MRI scans.
The 25-euro charge was introduced on January 1 but has already proved unpopular with coalition, as well as opposition, lawmakers, even though it had been planned many months earlier.
