Health Ministry

In a strongly worded statement on Saturday, New Democracy's shadow minister for health, Vassilis Economou, berated the government for the state of "abandonment" of the Evangelismos Hospital in central Athens and the general situation at public hospitals.

The Treaty of Bulgaria with "Eurotransplant" was canceled but will be extended to 2-3 weeks. This was announced by the Executive Director of the Transplantation Agency Mariana Stoyanova and just a day earlier the Health Ministry announced that "Bulgaria has a contract with Eurotransplant, it is not interrupted and Bulgaria continues to be a member of the organization".

Sizes of various pastries traditionally a part of Turkish breakfast will be reduced in Turkish school canteens, in line with new regulations unveiled by the Health Ministry and Education Ministry in an attempt to fight child obesity.

The Health Ministry said earlier this week that it will be opening a special department to deal with issues pertaining to the prescription and sale of medical marijuana. However, despite this small sign of progress in implementing legislation passed 10 months ago on the use of medical marijuana, those seeking relief seem no close to actually getting it.

Some 20.5 percent of men and 41 percent of women in Turkey are obese, according to the Health Ministry's National Nutrition and Health Survey. 

A Health Ministry decision on Friday lifted a ban on public swimming in the sea off several kilometers of Attica coastline, stretching from Piraeus to beyond Glyfada, imposed last fall following the Agia Zoni II oil tanker sinking off Salamina.

If the anti-vaccination trend gains pace, this may produce serious consequences, including an epidemic, warns Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ceyhan, a member of the immunization advisory board of the Health Ministry.

The Health Ministry has sent a circular to regional authorities across the country asking them to initiate their annual mosquito control programs, calling for particular attention to be paid in areas where there have been outbreaks of malaria and West Nile virus in previous years.

Romania has called on the EU Civil Protection Mechanism for help with its immunoglobulin crisis, Health Minister Sorina Pintea announced on Monday.

Two trains collided on Wednesday north of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, killing at least 15 people, authorities said, the latest deadly accident involving the country's underfunded and mismanaged railways.

Another 40 people were injured in the accident, which took place in the Beheira province in the Nile delta, according to the country's state MENA news agency.