An important initiative to strengthen the National Health System has been announced by the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakisduring an event at the Concert Hall. The aim of the government is to facilitate the repatriation of Greek doctors working in the United States by simplifying the process of recognizing their qualifications.
The new legislation will abolish the complex and bureaucratic process that Greek doctors are facing today to recognize their specialties and specializations acquired at US universities.
With the proposed change, interested parties will be able to apply to the Panhellenic Medical Association (PIS) for the automatic recognition of their titles. This initiative is expected to be an important incentive for the return of talented Greek doctors, reinforcing the country’s medical potential and improving citizens’ access to high quality health services.
Speech by Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the “Prix Galien Greece 2025” awards ceremony at the Concert Hall
Dear colleagues in the government and the House, lady and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen,
I was very pleased to have responded to your invitation to be with you at a celebration that honors the Greek and the International Pharmaceutical Industry, but mainly honors the pioneers to develop innovative public health therapies.
It is an area in which our country aspires to become a dynamic hub in our wider region. Remember that there are 45 of Europe’s 400 drug plants, we produce almost 10% of its total preparations. And at national level, this means that the needs of Greek patients are covered by more than 60%, while at the same time serving the demand for markets other Member States.
European autonomy, however, does not cease to be a crucial issue in this area. That is why both Greek and multinational companies now have to intensify their efforts with new investments, with more research centers.
For its part, the state in turn gives its own “present”, fighting bureaucracy, reducing tax burdens, giving significant additional incentives for investment, such as the investment clawback which proved to be extremely successful. Our goal is to direct more resources to production, research, clinical trials. And all this has so far brought investment initiatives close to 1.5 billion euros. That is, they are initiatives with a visible imprint on the scientific community and with a multiple impact on both the economy and society.
Most of all, however, on this occasion, I would note the importance of a double government initiative and an option that I think is at the core of the way we perceive the functioning of the NHS as a single – I emphasize, a single – national priority. In other words, as a common field of action not only in the public but also of the private sector, where prevention will meet the treatment, the drug will justify its practical mission to the patient. And, secondly, the State to turn our potential, both inside and outside the country.
It is no coincidence, after all, that in the pharmaceutical industry, many minds are working in our hometown that have been a few minds that have been overseas abroad and repatriated, especially in recent years, and this is precisely what we are seeking to happen to the national health system.
Recently, we had the opportunity to co -decide with the Minister of Health, and we will bring a very important initiative next week to Parliament. This is none other than the automatic recognition of specialty and consequently the specialization of doctors who have acquired it in the United States, provided that it is in place, it will correspond to positions in Greece.
It is an important initiative and thus opens a way of repatriation of the United States who want to return to our homeland and support the national health system.
And we want scientists to be able to see their future in our homeland, seeking a quality of life that our homeland is undoubtedly offering, but next to their professional ambition and combining their own personal goals with the country’s collective well -being.
It is one direction on the basis of which 10 new factories have been created in the last five years, 14 new research centers, thereby shaping a new productive grid that will provide increasingly added value to the place.
Silent, after all, the steps that are taking are many. Remember that one of the first seven European factories is being built today in Lavrio, focusing on the supercomputer “Daedalus”. It is a critical infrastructure that can support significant research associated with artificial intelligence in all areas, but mainly in the health sector, which has also been identified by the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy as one of the areas in which our country can really pioneer in the world. which will develop around health.
And I would say it is an additional bridge of cooperation, precisely this public infrastructure, between private and public sectors, which will ultimately unlock our ability to provide better medicines, better services to citizens, but also highlighting Greece in a European, because not a world center.
Ladies and gentlemen, the drug, of course, cannot be another product among other or just a financial profit opportunity, there is much more. You live it every day and first and foremost, the ones who need it are the most.
So we will continue to coordinate our actions, the Ministry, EOPYY, AEO, industry, patient associations that we have supported and which we believe very much, with a common pursuit of a three-year framework agreement that will ensure the self-evident: in every citizen, we can do the best of the right, either for the right, They are available to the exact treatments that come and which our fellow citizens need today.
And I have to tell you that the Ministry is also considering the establishment of an innovation fund that will facilitate transitional compensation for new medicines so that they can enter the list faster.
A move, of course, parallel to the improvements still required both in EOPYY and home tradition, which begins soon.
But also something about the “architecture” of the drug budgets as a whole: to remind me of the 1.6 billion euros of “injections” given to the pharmaceutical industry in the past, but also the intention of the government, which is already starting to do so -which is already starting to do so – The cost of clawback, one would say “sin” that comes from the crisis years, through reforms. Reforms that, be careful, will reduce waste coming from a bad past. And I don’t think I find it difficult to admit that the Greek market had its problems.
But now we are at a much better spot. We have in our hands tools that can control real -time costs: electronic prescription, a tool that is innovative and for European data as developed, closed protocols, the Horizon drug evaluation system. And the electronic health file, which will begin to unfold from the end of the year, will now be able to provide all interested parties, patients and treating doctors, a complete picture that will include each examination, every diagnosis, every treatment.
A wealth of data that, as I said, can then be analyzed by artificial intelligence tools, leading to new applications, new solutions and new effective public health policies.
One of the bets we had with the minister was the increase in clinical trials. We already have results: From 100 in 2019, we are at 564, we want to reach 1,000 in 2027. For the first time I was informed that we had Greece a PHASE I study, Phase 1 at Papageorgiou Hospital in Thessaloniki, while seeking to create a pouch of pouch in the National Health System.
Ladies and gentlemen, I conclude that the drug industry is a special dynamic industry, especially for our country, as we have significant comparative advantages that make us internationally competitive. In particular, in a juncture in which both in Europe and in our country we realize that it is a one -way bold changes in order to maintain and, above all, to improve our presence in world markets.
However, if the uncertainty about international trade relations can generate a tendency for inactivity, it is a fact that every such rearrangement generates important opportunities. We must, therefore, see how we will attract in Europe but especially in our homeland, talents, investments, emphasizing innovation pioneering in the field of living sciences, research, the development of new drugs, in order to eventually reach high level of medical services.
This is our vision in simple words. I believe it is both yours and this route is called upon to travel, at a time when demographic trends unfortunately raise new challenges for health systems. It is challenges that require us to use every idea of the proper use of public resources, providing quality care, which concerns us all.
And I want to dwell here, ending, in the great importance that our government has attributed to prevention and public health actions, so as not to cure the disease but to make sure to prevent it. These are the actions that I believe have been universal recognition from the Greek state and we already have the first very important measurable results in a number of diseases, literally saving lives, because we have persuaded our fellow citizens to utilize this possibility that the Greek state gives them free of charge.
So warm congratulations to the organizers of today’s event. Warmest congratulations to Ms Apostolopoulou, who adorns the global research community and which we will have the pleasure of awarding, but also to all the recipients of the awards for their significant contribution.
Thank you.