Health costs under pressure

The Health Ministry has less than a month to find ways to plug a funding gap of around 1.2 billion euros in the budget of the country’s biggest healthcare provider, EOPYY, following a meeting between representatives of the country’s creditors and Minister Andreas Lykourentzos on Monday.

“There are important issues still to be discussed, such as restructuring EOPYY and the issue of costs created by shortfalls from social security funds,” Lykourentzos said.

He added that the inspectors noted progress in curbing the costs of hospitals and in supplies, but he also said that spending on medicines still has some way to go to reach a set target of 2.44 billion euros by the end of the year from 2.8 billion in 2012.