The Covid-19 pandemic in Greece demonstrated that healthcare needs to be at the forefront of the political agenda. Our National Health System withstood immense pressure, but its flaws also became evident. Today, we are at a crucial crossroads: healthcare reform is more than necessary and, at the same time, we need to be prepared, both institutionally and fiscally, for the upcoming revolutionary innovations in the field of medicine and medical devices, while ensuring equal access to proper and qualitative healthcare and treatment options for every patient.
Besides the requisite increase in funding and structural reforms in primary healthcare and prevention, hospital administration, the new national hospital map, and the digitalization of health, we also need a mentality shift. We cannot keep viewing healthcare only as a bottomless money pit but must see it also as a longterm investment opportunity that will ultimately benefit patients, citizens, and the national economy. This requires investing in human resources in order to reverse the brain drain trend in public hospitals, combined with merit-based management and accountability systems and reward models linked to productivity and the quality of care.
For any healthcare reform to succeed, the participation and the feedback of patients is essential
Furthermore, the state needs to re-examine the current clawback scheme and develop a multipronged investment incentive approach that will attract foreign investment and innovation in the field of health. And we are not just talking about tax incentives but also about an investment friendly institutional framework, such as the one that is currently being implemented for clinical trials, where significant progress has been made including the creation of clinical trial offices in public hospitals, which will help curtail bureaucracy and make Greece an innovation hub.
The Greek Patients Association, the confederation uniting more than 70 patient organizations from all over Greece, is well aware of these challenges and strives to establish a distinct and institutional role for patients in the health sector, with democratic procedures, substantiated proposals, and strong social alliances. Because if we wish for any healthcare reform to succeed, the participation and the feedback of patients in designing and implementing policies concerning them is essential.
Therefore, we prioritize the empowerment of patient associations, their national and international networking and the development of their representatives’ skills, for effective advocacy. We do not just ask for a seat at the table but we also work towards creating patient experts with knowledge and expertise in fields such as healthcare and pharmaceutical policy, health finance and administration, health technology assessment, and clinical trials.
In that direction, throughout 2023, we ran a successful cooperative project called Patients Hub Networking in collaboration with Humane and the Health Policy Institute, where representatives from more than 63 patient organizations worked together to strengthen the visibility, effectiveness, administrative autonomy, financial viability, and health literacy of patient associations.
This autumn, the Greek Patients Association will also be launching one of its most ambitious projects, the Patients’ Academy, a holistic patient expert training program, where leading scientists and members of academia will teach specially designed courses and workshops that will enable us to build capacity among the patient community in order to undertake a more active and decisive part as equal stakeholders.
