Package for island move

There will be a financial incentive of an additional 1,800 euros added to the wages of doctors who choose to work outside urban centers and move to the islands, according to Health Minister Thanos Plevris.

“It is a huge incentive,” the minister told state broadcaster ERT, adding that the move will cover areas when there is huge demand. Plevris said wages for doctors have increased but conceded it was “not as much as we would have liked.”

The minister insisted, however, that doctors are seeing an increase for the first time in 12 years.

Plevris noted a 10% bonus of 400 euros in two critical specialties for doctors – intensive care unit doctors and anaesthesiologists – as well as a 250-euro allowance for doctors in the ambulance service.

“In the midst of a pandemic, we did not stand still, but laid the foundations for primary healthcare,” the minister said.