Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis withdrew the regulation that enables private doctors to work in NHS hospitals.
The Minister of Health withdrew the regulation, in order to bring it back next week, after the reactions of the opposition who complained that an important regulation was submitted to the bill of the Ministry of Health, in the form of a legal technical improvement, shortly before the curtain fell on the debate and in violation of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament and the rules of good legislation.
Adonis Georgiadis, however, denied that the filing of the regulation was a surprise, since he had already announced it, and a relevant request was submitted by the Panhellenic Medical Association to the committee of the Parliament, where the bill was elaborated.
“Those who are members of the Social Affairs Committee, in which this bill was discussed, know that there was a relevant discussion about the provision of work by private doctors in the NHS hospitals. They attended the hearing of bodies and also heard the Panhellenic Medical Association and other bodies of the medical world, who requested that we legislate the access of private doctors to the NHS.
I had said in the committee that I would accept it and that I would submit a legislative improvement that would include this article, in order to receive legislative authorization, for this issue and there was also a related discussion in the committee,” said the Minister of Health.
“And now you’re telling me there’s a procedural issue. Listen, I don’t like pretend fights, they take us away from the point.
If your problem is procedural and you intend, if it comes in the form of an amendment next week, to support it, that is, if the problem is not the substance but the procedure, in that case, if even one party in opposition says that he wants to support her but because there is a procedural issue he can’t, then I will withdraw the arrangement and bring it up next week.
But if all the parties say you want to vote against it and invent a procedural issue, for something you disagree on the substance, then I will think about it. I do not want such an important reform to be covered behind a procedural issue. But whoever says that he was surprised, especially the rapporteurs and members of the committee, is a pure lie,” he added.
“It is not a legal technical improvement, it is an independent article”
After this statement by the Minister of Health, the parliamentary representative of SYRIZA Dionysis Kalamatianos said that the debate is not only that the House was taken by surprise but that the government is doing something that is not normal. “What you described to the committee and what you are bringing here is not a legislative improvement. It is essentially an independent article.
Withdraw it and table an amendment – not 20 minutes before the debate ends, as a legislative improvement. This is our objection. And of course there should also be the report of the General Accounting Office. Respect the parliamentary rule. Bring an amendment next week, with the report of the General Accounting Office”.
“Parliament is a field of dialogue and not surprise”
The parliamentary representative of PaSoK Michalis Katrinis said: “No one doubted that it was your political intention to bring this provision of the law. We disagree. First of all, the Parliament is a field of dialogue and not surprise. It’s a surprise when you insert an arrangement of substantive content, at the end of the list of speakers.’
Mr. Katrinis also referred Mr. Georgiadis to the “Legislative Methodology Manual”, issued by the Presidency of the Government in 2020, where it states that no amendments are introduced for change, through legal technical improvements, that is, legal technical improvements are not allowed to be equivalent to disguised amendments, it is not allowed to establish new rules of law by means of legislative improvements.
“You come and despite what the handbook of the Presidency of the Government says, you bring a covert amendment which also raises issues of constitutionality – the use of public structures and services, not in emergencies, by private individuals – without a report from the Parliament’s scientific service. The provision establishes new rules of law.
Because I know your respect for the Presidency of the Government and the rules of good legislation, to protect you, I tell you to withdraw it, because this matter exposes the government as a whole”, said Michalis Katrinis.
“I don’t want an important reform to be hidden behind a procedural debate. I delete it, I will bring it next week as an amendment, to be discussed normally”, said Mr. Georgiadis.
Reactions in Parliament
Earlier, and in the order in which they spoke, the parliamentary representative of PaSoK M. Katrinis had called on the government to take back the regulation because the type of legal technical improvement, as defined by the Rules of the Parliament, has nothing to do with the substantive regulation that changes the face of the NHS.
“You leave the door open for doctors in public hospitals to participate, and you call it a legislative improvement, a short while before the debate is over. Please refer to the ministerial decision for details. This disrespects the legislative function and the parliamentary process. In other words, at this moment you are asking the Parliament to authorize the minister to completely change the profile of the National Health Service. We ask that it be withdrawn and tabled as an amendment to discuss it. This situation cannot continue. The order without a report of the General Accounting Office of the State and the Scientific Service comes in a politically correct way”, said Michalis Katrinis.
“This is not a legal improvement. It’s unthinkable. It’s a whole article that should have arrived on time. If you weren’t in time, you shouldn’t have submitted it”, said the SYRIZA parliamentary representative Dionysis Kalamatianos and added: “You are bypassing the legislative process. He can’t pass this thing. There are rules. Respect is needed in the legislature. It is unthinkable to withdraw it. We are talking about a new article, it is not possible to bring them with a legislative addition. The government is going about this wrongly.”
“You are well; Do you know letters? What does legal improvement mean? Will you come out to support it? Serious man and scientist? Unless you tell us that you do what you like, because you have the majority in the Parliament. “Mercy, are you telling us that this is a technical legal improvement, an article that you brought in at the last minute?”, said the parliamentary representative of the KKE Thanasis Pafilis.
“The government brings to the fore, a provision that changes the philosophy of the NHS. It is not a mere technical improvement. This is a major legislative intervention. To withdraw”, said Nikos Vrettos, the parliamentary representative of “Victory”.
“This is called subjugation of the state. You are corrupting the parliamentary process. No shame in not following the obvious. You embarrass us, discredit us, the whole parliamentary process. You consider the state your spoils, because they voted for you”, said the parliamentary representative of the Hellenic Solution Konstantinos Chitas.
“This cannot be considered a legal improvement document. It comes at the last minute, just before the debate closes, there is no report of the State General Accountant, and this while the government declares that no proposals can come that are not costed. There is a matter of respecting the procedures. The Parliament cannot be considered as a validator of your decisions”, said the parliamentary representative of Plevsis Eleftherias Alexandros Kazamias.
“We are asking for substantive, formal and institutional reasons to withdraw the provision that opens the way for private individuals to enter through hospital windows,” said New Left rapporteur Özgür Ferhat.
The Deputy Minister of Health underlined that the content of the legal technical improvement was a request that had been formulated, during the hearing of actors, in the Parliament’s committee, where the drafting of the bill was preceded. He also said that the Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis, had informed about his intention to introduce this regulation. In relation to the exercise of private projects in the NHS hospitals, Irini Agapidaki underlined that strict specifications are introduced and there are regulatory safeguards. “It’s not something that comes without a strict framework. The safety valves are defined, in relation to the exercise of the project”, said the Deputy Minister of Health.
Source: RES-MPE
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