Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis confirmed today in the First Program that he is in contact with private insurance companies to cover the followingnoon surgeries.
Referring initially to the controversial reform, the minister pointed out that the KAT started the followingnoon surgeries and that out of the 17 clinical surgeries that the hospital has, all 17 expressed their desire to participate.
For the criticism of the privatization of the NHS
Then wanting to respond to the criticism leveled on the occasion of the development for the insurance companies, which says that the privatization of the NHS is being attempted, he said: “If the objection is of an ideological nature, that we don’t want there to be a payment in the NHS, this has been solved in the NHS for 22 years with the followingnoon clinics”.
“Having the insurance companies come in means that some people will be able to use NHS services without paying out of pocket, but paying through private insurance. Why is this bad for the NHS? Can you give me a logical argument why this for the NHS is bad? Our ideology is in favor of PPPs, Public-Private Partnerships. Isn’t that what New Democracy always says? Have we said any kind of objection to the private sector that we consider it contaminated, that it should not cooperate with the public sector? No. If the people wanted something like that, they would have voted for Rebellion, they would not have voted for New Democracy,” he added.
“Today they must be furious with the photo of Polakis”
Regarding the photo of the minister with the patient of the first followingnoon surgery that took place in Thessaloniki, for which he was accused of a communication show and fiesta, Mr. Georgiadis repeated that the patient himself asked him to take a photo.
“If someone has a real problem with personal data and human dignity, today they must be furious with Polakis who took the photo and put the junta around the patient in order to say well that this is a junta fiesta and put the real man who went to surgery himself for political reasons in a falsified photo. Yes, this is unacceptable. And he doesn’t have that person’s consent apparently,” he added.
Referring then to the video of Mr. Kasselakis’ haircut, which he estimated may have cost the president of SYRIZA 100 thousand euros, he said: “Do you agree that it is a professional video? Could it cost €200? I have no problem with Mr. Kasselakis spending his money, he is a rich man, he does well and spends it. I have no problem with that at all. It only bothers me that they pass us off as dumb.
Mr. Kasselakis on his pre-election campaign and to become the leader of SYRIZA and now he spends too much money. He does well, he spends them, they are his. I don’t care regarding that. You know what bothers me. What really bothers me the most is that they try to present him to us as something like a commando who goes to the army for 15 days. It is a legal and moral issue. A man who enjoys the beneficial consequences of the law and does only 15 days of service, in my opinion, does not show that he goes to the army for 15 days. He goes quietly and turns around because there are all the rest of us who did 18 months.”
For opinion polls: PASOK is the big loser
Regarding the latest opinion poll findings that show that SYRIZA has returned to second place and PASOK to third, Mr. Georgiadis commented that “there is absolutely no reasonable doubt that the big patient is PASOK” attributing this development to the recent decisions of the president of PASOK and for the non-state universities, partly also with the followingnoon surgeries, as the minister said.
As regards the looming increase in the percentages of far-right parties, Mr. Georgiadis he noted that in these European elections they show a very large increase throughout Europe and that it is a horizontal trend.
For the criticism that there are leaks to the Right
To the criticism that New Democracy has displeased part of its party base with its recent policies and therefore there are leaks to its right, Mr Georgiadis said the following.
“I hear this criticism. I’m not saying we do everything perfectly. Let’s take an example, the immigration issue, which is identity for the right. Here they have taken me out on the internet, approximately in favor of open borders, comedian, for the amendment that we passed with Kairides at the end of December, which I mentioned in passing, I said that it will not affect more than 25,000 people a year and already today three months have passed and there are approximately 6,000 applications, will be even less than we said. But it doesn’t matter if you’re telling the truth. What matters is how people receive it.”
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