Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-10-13

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Health system on track, minister says after meeting PM

[01] Health system on track, minister says after meeting PM

Improvements to Greece's public health system were unfolding as planned, Avramopoulos told reporters as he emerged from the meeting with the premier.

He said the ministry had prepared three draft bills soon to be tabled in Parliament, dealing with primary care, procurements, and administrative and structural reforms.

The minister identified the biggest problem as a lack of staff, noting that some 2,500 nurses would be hired by the National Health System by January, while an additional 4,500 are to be hired over the next year.

He stressed that the health system was now on track, with programmes and strategies now being adopted and prepared that aimed to achieve its operation under the best possible circumstances within the next 10 years.

Responding to questions about a spat between two government ministers, Avramopoulos emphasised that there was absolutely no problem with the ruling New Democracy party.

"Recently it is observed that we tend to inflate small issues and diminish the big ones. There is, therefore, absolutely on problem. We are working collectively and as a team in a spirit of seamless understanding and cooperation," he said.

On the four-week-long teachers' strike, Avramopoulos said that there "are no dead-ends in democracy" and that the government was a proponent of understanding, cooperation and synthesis. He expressed conviction that reason would prevail and the interests of education and the children would be put first.

The issues would be overcome and the reforms that Greek society and the Greek education system had so many years been waiting for would be rapidly pushed through, he added.

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