Visiting the Mobile Health Team at the community surgery of Fourna, a village in Evrytania, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday highlighted the fact that Greece's National Health System was now able to provide care in "the most remote regions of the country, with a physical presence and a constant monitoring of the state of health of their inhabitants."
The prime minister was briefed by Alternate Health Minister Irene Agapidaki and the CEO of the National Public Health Organisation (NPHO) Dimitris Hatzigeorgiou about the services provided by the mobile teams, the preventative health screening programmes that are being implemented in the area and the telemedicine system operating at the specific surgery and others in the region.
"I am very happy about this new action of Mobile Health Teams, which is underway here today in Fourna.... the minister spoke about something that I also believe in strongly: the removal of inequalities, especially the capability that technology now gives us for citizens who inhabit the most remote regions of our country to have exactly the same quality of care as regards their health as a resident of a big city. Telemedicine allows us to do this. For example, someone can have an ultrasound done here and, at the same time, the diagnosis can be carried out by a centre, in this case the Health Centre in Keratsini. These are new health services that we want to provide, so that the citizens, wherever they may be, from the emergency room of large Athens hospitals to the most remote village in Evrytania, can feel safe and that the state is providing for and taking care of their health," Mitsotakis said.
Agapidaki pointed out that the mobile team in Fourna had carried out preventative medical tests, monitored people with chronic illness and visited elderly and disabled patients at home. She said they would be back every month, while the rest of the Evrytania rural surgeries will be staffed in the autumn, based on new planning.
She noted that three more telemedicine stations had been set up in the region, at Fragista, Agrafa and Karpenissi, where several exams can be carried out remotely and the results diagnosed by specialist doctors based in Athens.
"Telemedicine is a new system that eliminates geographical inequalities," she added.
The Mobile Health Teams are an initiative that started to be implemented in 2025 and aims to provide health services to individuals who cannot visit health facilities, such as the very elderly and those with disabilities, as well as providing preventative testing for those in remote areas.