M. Gaga: The NSS after 40 years must change

The Onassis Foundation, the Fellows Association and the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center are organizing the second Onassis Health Day today. A digital conference on the post-covid era in health systems, the digital transformation of research and the provision of health services, but also the corresponding adaptations to the Greek health system. The conference with the central theme “Predictions and Challenges in Health Care” aims to identify these changes, to outline our adaptation to them and to explore the possibilities that open up for patients, scientists and legislators through them.

During her greeting, the Deputy Minister of Health, Mina Gaga, referred to the changes in the NSS, but also to the current difficult situation due to a pandemic, emphasizing the need for “social conscience and solidarity”.

It is clear that the NSS after 40 years must change, it must proceed to reorganization, said Ms. Gaga. Conditions have changed, he said, noting that distances have narrowed, there has been digital transformation, the way medicine is done, that is, it has become more human-centered and at the same time based on multi-systematic groups, and patients have a strong voice of their own. . “As a ministry, of course, we must listen to everyone and make decisions after a fruitful dialogue,” he said.

He also mentioned that in Greece we have the largest private sector of all European countries. “Almost 50% of health expenditures are in the private sector and that is not a bad thing, nor should we put labels on the good public and the bad private. We have good doctors and good services in both places,” he said. is to have a good interface and good services for patients.

Referring to the current difficult situation in the health system, he noted that “our first concern at this time is to overcome the difficult situation of the pandemic in the coming months and for that we need everyone’s help” and added: “What is needed in the country is social consciousness and solidarity, which we show in difficult times, but not at this time, we must all unite to see how we can solve the problem and make a credible critique for the next day, but in times of crisis what we have to do is positive proposals “.

“The next day is for all of us and will be for all of us. It is the right of all Greeks to good prevention and health and we will do that,” concluded Ms. Gaga.

The president of the Onassis Foundation, Antonis Papadimitriou, stated that today’s Onassis Health Day coincides with the anxiety of all of us about the evolution of the pandemic, the losses of our fellow human beings, the pressure that the NSS receives. He referred to the support provided by the Foundation, from the first phase of the pandemic, to the medical staff in the difficult battle it gives.

“But as the battle continues, we are trying to reflect on the challenges that await us in the future,” he said, noting that for the large Onassis Foundation family, the battle in the health sector is ongoing.

As Mr. Papadimitriou said, nothing is the same in the field of Cardiology after the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center which started operating in 1993. He noted that the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center and then the Onassis National Transplant Center have received long-term and cross-party support.

The modernization of the hospital, he said, passes to the next stage, through the digital transformation, giving importance to the continuous retraining of the staff, the strengthening of medical equipment, but also the joint actions with the Onassis Foundation Scholars Association.

At the same time, the conditions for the next day on the map of transplants and organ donation are maturing. The Onassis National Transplant Center, he estimated, will be delivered within 2024 and -as he said- will be the practical implementation of a vision, through which a national strategic plan for transplants is being prepared for the first time in the country.

“The Onassis National Transplant Center is a catalyst in the holistic approach we have for Health” and the means to achieve the goal have already been selected, said Mr. Papadimitriou and added: The experienced medical and nursing staff is being trained and specialized, research is being developed, transplant units are being strengthened, society is being informed about the value and importance of organ donation. The Onassis of Children is also created, the first completely autonomous transplant unit for children in Greece.

“In this comprehensive forecast, the cooperation with the specialists is a necessary condition. The institution of coordinators is a key point of the new system for this and the Onassis Foundation undertakes the recruitment for one year with the possibility of extension for another two years, seven transplant coordinators to be placed in seven public hospitals “noted the president of the Onassis Foundation and concluded:

“The Onassis National Transplant Center is the spearhead in a nationwide effort to change the way of thinking, educating the younger generations in a culture of life. All these actions put into practice the rule that health is a matter of culture.”

SOURCE: AMPE