Diagnostic centres to reopen but make patients pay up front for tests, procedures

Diagnostic centres will reopen on Thursday, following a decision by their coordinating body on Wednesday to modify the form of their protest actions against the government.

The centres will serve all patients insured by the state social insurance funds but require them to pay the cost of tests and procedures, at the price paid by state insurance fund. They will then give patients a receipt so that they can ask for a refund from their state healthcare services' provider EOPYY.

The new form of protest will not include vulnerable groups of patients, such as cases where the patient's life is at risk or they face a major health issue, such as cancer.

The representatives of the sector had a meeting with Health Minister Andreas Xanthos on Tuesday, during which they expressed strong disagreements and pointed to legal issues that need to be carefully examined. At the meeting, Xanthos presented a new set of proposals that promised an additional 30 million euros on top of the increase of 9.0 million given for 2019 diagnostic lab budget for the year. He explained that this could not be done for 2018 as well since this would require legislation and parliament has been dissolved.