Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis has rejected criticism over a piece of plaster that fell from the ceiling of an office at Venizeleio Hospital, saying the incident was being used to falsely suggest the country's National Health System, known as ESY, is collapsing.
Georgiadis addressed the matter in a post on X, responding to media reports about the damage. He said what he called the "misery gang" was once again trying to exaggerate an incident to build an image of a crumbling health system.
According to Georgiadis, plaster covering about 1.5 square meters fell over the weekend in a closed and empty office at the hospital. He said the two doctors who use the office were not present at the time.
What the minister said happened
Georgiadis said that once the problem was noticed, the fallen material was removed and the hospital's Technical Service took care of the repair. He said the hospital administration had issued written and verbal instructions to the Technical Service for frequent inspections related to this kind of damage.
He described the incident as unforeseeable, saying there had been no prior indications that the plaster would fall.
The minister asked the public to look at the first photo in his post to see the actual extent of the damage, which he said occurred in an old building and an old office. He then referenced three news reports on the incident, published by in.gr, documentonews.gr and 902.gr, saying readers should compare how the event was actually described in those stories.
Minister's message on the health system
Georgiadis said people should relax, insisting that ESY is not collapsing. He said that across the hundreds of thousands of square meters of space the health system covers, some damage is bound to occur from time to time.
He added that the government is nonetheless carrying out the largest building upgrade program for the health system since its founding.
Georgiadis closed his post by wishing the public a healthy August 15 holiday period, referring to the Dekapentavgoustos, a widely observed Greek holiday.
