The renovated Emergency Department (ED) of the “Gennimatas” hospital in Thessaloniki, a project with a budget of 1,424,434.4 euros, implemented with EU – NextGenerationEU funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”, was inaugurated by Health Minister Adonis Georgiades.
“I have come to a hospital of which I am very proud, because during my term of office the following has happened: we have literally doubled its budget from 9.5 million to almost 20 million. We have greatly increased its medical staff. We have vastly increased its nursing staff. We have increased its other staff by quite a lot. We are doing a series and we have completed a series of renovation projects of clinics, ICUs that we are inaugurating today and in a few days the outpatient clinics will be delivered,” Georgiades told reporters after the inauguration ceremony.
Georgiadis noted that by the end of his term of office the “Gennimatas” hospital in Thessaloniki will be practically a new hospital, despite the old building complex, and referred to its future development planning, in connection with the relocation of the “Gennimatas” Pediatric Clinic to the Pediatric Hospital in Filiros.
As regards the operation of the ICU, he noted that the average waiting time has been significantly reduced: “Three years ago we had a fairly long average waiting time, over 7.5 hours. With recruitment, with the paramedics we brought in and with the wristband, the average wait has dropped below three hours.” Referring to surgeries, he claimed that through the expansion of evening surgeries, “there is not a single pending surgery as of 2025,” while 2026 waits are moving below four months, a threshold set by the Recovery Fund programme.
He made special reference to the nursing sector, announcing its inclusion in the heavy and unhealthy professions with an amendment to be tabled in the next few months jointly with the Ministry of Labour. At the same time, he announced a new framework of incentives to strengthen nursing staff and attract young people to nursing education, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. “Within the next ten days we expect to be ready now inter-ministerially to make formal announcements on the establishment of the nursing branch of the NHS with all that this will mean for nurses. It is quite certain that after we have done a lot for doctors, now it is the time for nurses,” he said.
As part of his visit, the minister held a meeting with the management and the Hospital Employees Union. He said there was a “nice discussion with the Employees’ Union” and everyone acknowledged “the great progress that a blind man can see.”
Referring to the recent incident of violence against health workers at St Demetrios Hospital, he noted that the entire NHS stands by the staff. “The attack was completely unprovoked,” he said, stressing: “We are with them 100 per cent.”
Then Georgiades travelled to Naoussa where he will inaugurate the city’s new hospital emergency department. Tomorrow, Mr Georgiades will inaugurate the new outpatient clinics and the new Radiology Department of the hospital of Veria, while he will then visit the Health Centre of Nea Vrysi and the General Hospital of Giannitsa.
