Source: European Parliament
On 21 January 2024, the Council adopted the Council Implementation Decision amending the Implementing Decision of 13 July 2021 on the approval of the assessment of the recovery and resilience plan for Greece.
A subproject related to afternoon surgeries was introduced under measure 16756 (Organisational Reforms in the Health System) under component 3.3 (Improve resilience, accessibility and sustainability of healthcare).
The main objective of the subproject is the reduction of the waiting list for elective surgeries. More specifically, this allocates EUR 51 million of the Recovery and Resilience Facility grants to fund the operational cost of 37 500 afternoon surgeries. Priority would be given to patients that have been waiting the longest.
Afternoon surgeries will be performed in public hospitals. The subproject also provides that for cases where it will not be possible to carry out the surgeries in the hospital, the surgery may be carried out in another public hospital in proximity, or in a collaborating private hospital.
If the possibility for the surgery to take place in a private hospital is activated, it will be the citizen who will choose the private provider from a list which will include all collaborating hospitals.
The Greek National Health Service Organisation (ΕΟPYY) has the main responsibility for the implementation of afternoon surgeries in private hospitals. The Ministry of Health is the supervising authority for the implementation of the entire project.
The target associated with this subproject (T164a) is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2025 and submitted as part of Greece’s ninth payment request.