Loverdos: "I do not belong with those who sank the country"

Innuendos, mainly targeting PASOK, were made by Health Minister Andreas Loverdos, who stated: “I do not belong with those who sank the country… On the contrary, I will do everything in my power to not let it sink further… I do not subscribe to populist critique”.

He also stressed: “If I disappeared and stepped back, I would not be here today”.

Note that last Tuesday, PASOK MPs refused to vote on the article deregulating the opening hours of pharmacies on the grounds that Mr. Loverdos attempted to integrate it into the bill, violating the Constitution and Standing Orders.

However, Mr. Loverdos stated that the provision was known to Members and invited everyone to “take responsibility”, adding that he has “a compelling case” against those who “want to compare my tenure to other times, when customer logic had been adopted by most of my predecessors”, with very few exceptions.

“The NHS will collapse in 2013 if it has no development”.

Moreover, the minister reiterated that without development the collapse of the infrastructure of the NHS is a given, while he noted that he only managed to keep all facilities operating with an increase of the number of patients by 30% and funds reduced by 20%.

He defended the measure of imposing a 5-euro ticket at outpatient hospitals, stating that it earned a revenue of 267 million euros and the ticket is paid only by those who go to the emergency room without being hospitalized.

He stressed that the 5.6-billion-euro pharmaceutical expenditure of funds fell to 3.7bn in 2011, while he made further cuts of up to 1bn per month, and he also noted that he will bring a legal provision that will establish a rebate every three months.

Finally, concerning the EOPYY, he stated that the idea is to allow NHS doctors the ability to write out prescriptions.