Adonis Georgiadis

The coalition is seeking to put the controversial departure of tax chief Haris Theoharis behind it as it moves into the final straight before a cabinet reshuffle that is expected to take place on Monday.

Conservative Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis on Thursday denied any contacts with Golden Dawn lawmaker Christos Pappas.

“I have certainly never spoken to him. What Golden Dawn tried to do yesterday was to sling mud on everyone, [and it did so] for obvious political reasons,” Georgiadis said of Pappas who is currently in the capital's high-security Korydallos Prison pending trial.

A re-examination of the degree certificates of the directors and doctors at the country’s public hospitals, which was launched at the end of last year, has led to dismissals of staff who were found to have secured their positions with bogus qualifications, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said on Friday.

Some 2 million Greeks without social insurance will be able to receive free treatment at state hospitals from next month as long as they get a referral from a doctor at the Primary National Healthcare Network (PEDY) which has replaced the national healthcare provider (EOPYY).

Staff at clinical laboratories working with Greece’s main health provider, EOPYY, are expected to end the suspension of their activities and return to providing their services to insured patients following a meeting with Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis on Wednesday.

The meeting was the third between the two parties.

Greece is under pressure from the troika to increase the prescription of cheaper, generic medicines, which has only reached around 20 percent, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said on Wednesday.

Plans by former prime minister George Papandreou to appear at an Athens book launch on Monday with Fotis Kouvelis, the head of Democratic Left (DIMAR) who quit the current ruling coalition last June over the closure of the then state broadcaster ERT, fuelled criticism on Friday from coalition MPs in both PASOK and New Democracy.

There are between 1.9 and 2.4 million Greeks, or roughly 20 percent of the total population, without social insurance, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said on Wednesday as he announced plans to provide these people with free medicines.

Citizens can book appointments at polyclinics forming part of the streamlined Primary National Healthcare Network (PEDY) from Wednesday as a new telephone service is to start operating several weeks after EOPYY, which PEDY replaces, suspended its phone hotline.

In crisis, Greece strives to consolidate medical care

Two recent reports identified problems in the Greek health system.

The government cut Greece's public hospital budget by 25 percent between 2009 and 2011. [AFP]