“As we emerge from the pandemic, we have an obligation, obligation to Greek citizens to further strengthen our national healthcare system, to make it more resilient, and to make sure that we place a particular emphasis on quality of care,” stated Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the inauguration ceremony of the renovated offices of the European Centre of Excellence for Quality in Care and Patient Safety, established by the World Health Organization in Athens.
In his speech, the Prime Minister referred to the “phenomenal work that was done by all our health care professionals,” in tackling the pandemic, pointing out that the last 2 years the strengths of the National Health System have been highlighted, but also its weaknesses, one of which is the fact that “the quality of healthcare, unfortunately, is not equitable”. He also stressed that we are not completely done yet and we need to learn how to live with the virus. “We all struggled over two years with an unknown enemy, and we’re not completely done yet. And we need to think about living with Covid in the long-term. What this will mean for our vaccination policies coming forward. What does this mean in terms of our basic precautions,” the Prime Minister said.
He also described in detail the philosophy behind the changes in the National Health System.
“I want to make sure that in Greece, regardless of where you live, regardless of whether you have access to a regional hospital or a top University hospital in one of our big cities, that we have uniform standards regarding quality of care,” said the Prime Minister. “This, of course, means that we look at healthcare as a continuum, starting from public health and prevention, moving to primary care, where we are initiating a very important reform. Looking again at the way our hospitals function and look at post-hospital care,” he added. “We are big believers – as I told you – in an evidence-based public policy and we are here to break down silos, vested interests and all those who do not look at healthcare from the perspective of the end user. And the end user is a citizen who deserves better health care, especially in this complicated post-pandemic world,” stressed the Prime Minister.
During the event, the launch of the new program of the Centre for the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents was announced, covering 53 countries that will be under the responsibility of the regional direction of the World Health Organization in Europe. This was mapped out upon the Prime Minister’s request to the Regional Director of WHO in Europe, Hans Kluge.
“I vividly recall being in your office, Excellency, in the Maximos Mansion, when the PM said to me: “Dear Hans, we should give priority to the mental health issue of all society, especially over children and adolescents”, Mr Kluge mentioned. “Well Prime Minister we listened to your advice and we are very grateful for your support”, he added.
“We need to break down these stigmas, these taboos and make sure that in this very difficult and complicated world where we face challenges from bullying to eating disorders, to issues of identification to our teenagers living in this parallel world of physical world and the virtual world that we adapt our mental services to make sure that we offer children and teenagers the best possible quality when it comes to mental health”, pointed out Mr Mitsotakis.
In his own speech, Mr. Kluge underlined the close cooperation between the WHO and Greece, given the government’s particular focus on health policies. “The office we are innovating here in Athens today is a concrete and highly visible expression of that partnership”, said the WHO Regional Director for Europe.
“I know that improving the quality of healthcare in Greece has been a priority for you. With your hosting of the WHO Centre of Excellence for Quality of Care Office, Greece is positioned to lead improvements in the quality of care, across the whole region”, added Mr Kluge.
The event was also attended by the Minister of Development and Investments Adonis Georgiadis, the Minister of Health Thanos Plevris, the Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias, the Alternate Minister of Health Mina Gaga and the Deputy Minister of Health, Zoe Rapti.
Read below the complete speech of the Prime Minister:
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Dr Kluge, Ministers, Ladies and gentlemen. Today I am particularly happy for three reasons. The first is that I’m back at work after having spent a week in isolation at home with minimal symptoms. I can assure you from personal experience that vaccines do work and that they do keep us safe and that they prevent us from getting seriously sick from a virus that continues to be particularly dangerous.
And it is indeed fitting that my first public event is coinciding with this very important day. Very important day for WHO, its regional presence in Europe, very important day for Greece, for our healthcare team. The official opening of the WHO Regional Office on Quality of care. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who contributed towards making this a reality, starting from Minister Geοrgiadis, who first established this relationship with WHO back in 2013 during very difficult times. Minister Kikilias, Minister Plevris, Alternate Minister Gaga, Deputy Minister Rapti, or Secretary Generals who are with us here. Doctor Theodorakis. This is a very important day for Greece.
And I’m sure that dear Hans would not have been here as WHO if you were not convinced about our vision, not just to support this office, but to implement the best practices as they are being produced by your wonderful team of experts. As we emerge from the pandemic, we have an obligation, obligation to Greek citizens to further strengthen our national healthcare system, to make it more resilient, and to make sure that we place a particular emphasis on quality of care. You know, the work we’ve done in terms of setting up specialized organization to measure quality of care. And I do want to stress the word measure because what cannot be measured, cannot be properly evaluated, and hence cannot be properly improved. The pandemic highlighted the strengths, but also the weaknesses of our national health system. I want to pay tribute to the phenomenal work that was done by all our health care professionals during particularly difficult times.
We all struggled over two years with an unknown enemy, and we’re not completely done yet. And we need to think about living with Covid in the long-term. What this will mean for our vaccination policies coming forward. What does this mean in terms of our basic precautions? But Covid also highlighted the fact that unfortunately in Greece – and we have to be very honest here – the quality of healthcare, unfortunately, is not equitable, and that is one of my main concerns.
I want to make sure that in Greece, regardless of where you live, regardless of whether you have access to a regional hospital or a top University hospital in one of our big cities, that we have uniform standards regarding quality of care. This, of course, means that we look at healthcare as a continuum, starting from public health and prevention, moving to primary care, where we are initiating a very important reform. Looking again at the way our hospitals function and look at post-hospital care, we have very ambitious goals, and we want you to be partners in this effort. We are big believers – as I told you – in an evidence-based public policy and we are here to break down silos, vested interests and all those who do not look at healthcare from the perspective of the end user. And the end user is a citizen who deserves better health care, especially in this complicated post-pandemic world.
And of course the third reason why I’m very happy is because you took note of what I told you in our meeting and you are launching here a regional program – which I’m sure will be expanded also beyond the European region – regarding best practices for mental health for children and adolescents. This is an area I deeply care about. Children and adolescents are the most vulnerable parts of our society. We do not talk enough in Greece about mental health in general. We talk even less so when it comes to the mental health of our children and of our teenagers.
We need to break down these stigmas, these taboos and make sure that in this very difficult and complicated world where we face challenges from bullying to eating disorders, to issues of identification to our teenagers living in this parallel world of physical world and the virtual world that we adapt our mental services to make sure that we offer children and teenagers the best possible quality when it comes to mental health. So thank you for taking note of this recommendation. I’ll be following the progress that you make on this front with great interest. And of course the Ministry knows that it has my full support when it comes to developing innovative policies regarding mental health for the Greek National health system. So let me again congratulate all those who have been involved in setting up this office.
I wish you best of luck. Make sure that this is an office that is creative but also I’m sure that your team will enjoy being in Greece and I wish you a lot of creative policy making that will benefit not just Greece, but the region and why not the whole world. It would be great if this work starts out of Greece. Thank you very much.
