Filenews 11 October 2022 - by Marilena Panayi
The ministry of health is studying the subsidy from the Ministry of Health of the services of podiatrists, which are currently being deprived of thousands of patients at risk of amputations, because they cannot afford to be served privately. In fact, according to information from "F", the general director of the ministry Christina Giannaki and the president of OSAK Marios Kouloumas are dealing with the issue, who after a meeting with the Minister of Health Michalis Hatzipantelas agreed to prepare a relevant proposal.
The services of podiatrists, as was mentioned during a recent meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Health, remain outside the GHS because they were not included in the initial design of the System and therefore, neither in the budget. However, as the president of OSAK told "F", the needs of patients are enormous and "these services are necessary because many of our patients cannot fail to have these services". For example, he added, "we have our thousands of diabetics who if they do not have the proper monitoring can even be at risk of amputation. They are other groups of patients and we cannot leave them without care." Of course, Mr. Kouloumas explained, "the subsidy will not be made for all patients, but specific criteria will be introduced for those who really need them to receive the services of podiatrists".
In addition, it was agreed that "the patient subsidy will be made until it becomes possible to integrate the podiatrists into the General System. Our request was for their inclusion to take place now, but we were explained the reasons why the HIO is currently failing and so it was deemed necessary for the Ministry of Health to undertake, in the first phase, the financing of these services".
According to information from "F", the Ministry of Health and OSAK will make official announcements in the next two weeks, since the basic principles of the proposal that will be prepared jointly, have already been agreed.
