Greece's Deputy Minister of Health, Marios Themistokleous, said there is no gap in the law governing medical equipment in private clinics, insisting that machines used at a doctor's office in the Athens district of Kolonaki, where singer Giorgos Mazonakis died, were operating illegally.
Speaking to state broadcaster ERTnews, Themistokleous said plasmapheresis, a blood-filtering procedure, cannot legally be carried out in a doctor's office, and that such machines should not even be present in that kind of setting.
He said, without qualification or footnote, plasmapheresis cannot be performed in a doctor's office, and the machines should not even be there. He added that if the equipment was operating without the required conditions in place, it was operating unlawfully.
Themistokleous said specific conditions govern the installation and use of medical equipment in Greece. He explained that a machine imported into the country cannot be used unless it has been declared to the National Organisation for Medicines, known as EOF, and to the relevant Medical Association, and that private clinics are subject to defined rules and inspection procedures.
More than 20,000 private clinics
There is no legal gap here, he said, adding that Greece has more than 20,000 private primary care clinics, the vast majority of which, he said, operate within the institutional and scientific framework.
The minister also addressed the responsibility of doctors themselves for patient safety. He said practising medicine requires a licence, and that doctors are obliged to act in the interest of protecting patients and not put them at risk.
He referred specifically to aesthetic treatments such as botox and hyaluronic acid injections, noting that the ministry has already issued ministerial decisions setting out which professionals may carry out such procedures, where they may be performed, and under what conditions. He said those decisions had prompted objections from doctors, union bodies and scientific societies, but that the ministry had pressed ahead with the regulation and its enforcement.
Advertising on social media
Themistokleous dwelt on the advertising of medical services on social media, saying it is an area creating new challenges that may require changes to the existing framework.
He said a doctor may not be allowed to advertise, but an influencer can, explaining that an influencer can promote a particular clinic or treatment through personal posts, which creates significant legal difficulties for oversight.
He said there has been a huge rise in social media, and that is where the advertising comes from, adding that the ministry, medical bodies and lawyers would need to examine how the framework could be adapted to the new reality.
The deputy minister also urged citizens to be especially cautious about treatments for which there is no documented benefit. He said not all treatments carry the same degree of documentation and safety, and that citizens should treat practices without a certified benefit with caution. He said doctors must be very careful about what they tell citizens or patients, and in particular must avoid treatments that could endanger life.
Clash with PASOK over health policy
Themistokleous also commented on the health policy announcements made by PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis at the Thessaloniki International Fair, the annual trade exhibition where Greek political leaders traditionally set out their policy programmes ahead of the autumn political season.
He argued that many of the proposals in PASOK's programme had already been implemented or were under way under the current government, citing the electronic health record, mobile health units and preventive screening programmes as examples.
He said he was informing PASOK that most of what is written in its programme has already been done or is under way, and that they should take note and carry on.
On prevention programmes specifically, Themistokleous said about 7 million citizens have already undergone at least one preventive screening, and argued the question now was what the main opposition party was proposing that was actually different.
On the merit-based selection of hospital administrations, he said the current process includes examinations run by ASEP, Greece's Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection, and described it as a particularly strict procedure. He asked what would change from the current law on selecting hospital administrations, which he said was being applied for the first time and included ASEP exams, calling it a very tough process.
As an example, he pointed to afternoon surgeries, a measure he said had been legislated in the past but never implemented. He said it was passed by PASOK 25 years ago and nobody applied it, and that the current government has now put it into practice, arguing that the real difference between political programmes is the ability to deliver on announcements. He said politics is not only about announcements, but about who is able to carry them out.
A social alliance to change the country
Asked about opinion poll ratings for the prime minister and the government, Themistokleous said the goal was to build a broader social alliance.
He said a satisfactory result is one that brings in more and more citizens, describing it as a social alliance to change the country and move it forward.
Commenting on approval ratings recorded in opinion polls, he said that, in his view, they remain higher than those recorded by other party leaders or aspiring party leaders. Asked about Androulakis and the reception of his positions after the Thessaloniki fair, Themistokleous said real political measurement happens at the ballot box, saying politics is measured in elections.
