Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has toured a newly renovated emergency department at a major Athens hospital, showcasing the project as a key example of his government's national drive to modernize Greece’s public health system using EU recovery funds.
Accompanied by Deputy Health Minister Marios Themistocleous, Mr. Mitsotakis visited the expanded emergency unit at KAT General Hospital, which now has increased capacity to handle a portion of the nearly 87,000 emergency patients the hospital treats annually. The upgrades are part of a broader push to improve infrastructure and reverse a "brain drain" of medical talent.
During the visit, the prime minister spoke with several doctors who had recently returned to Greece after working abroad.
“This is our home,” one physician who left a position in the UK told Mr. Mitsotakis, underscoring a key goal of the health system investment.
The hospital’s director, Ioannis Iliopoulos, briefed the prime minister on the facility’s expanded capabilities.
The hospital's annual budget has surged by nearly 70% since 2019 to reach €66.3 million, while staffing has grown by 191 employees over the same period.
The renovation at KAT is a flagship project in a national plan funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.
The overhaul will extend to 16 other emergency departments in the Attica region in the coming months, aiming to provide upgraded care across the public system.