Over half of HIO job requests approved

After weeks of an ongoing spat, the finance ministry approved on Thursday 29 positions out of the 56 the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) requested for its budget for the year.

HIO chairman Stavros Michael told CNA he was perfectly satisfied, as the number of new hires reflects the number of appointments left over from KPMG’s study on the introduction of Gesy.

Out of 29 appointments, 11 will be for secretarial and assistant staff, while the rest are management and scientific jobs.

The remaining 27 positions will be assessed in the near future, Michael said.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Makis Keravnos met with the HIO as the two have had an ongoing back-and-forth for months over the matter. Keravnos hinted last month that he would not approve the new hires.

Michael underlined the HIO needs many doctors of various specialties as well as nursing staff. With the approval of these new job positions, HIO can now call for more medical experts, he added.

The finance ministry has also greenlighted the HIO to bring in staff from other state services.

“It is very difficult to do this, but we will try,” Michael specified.

Currently, Gesy runs almost all hospitals except one, 7,000 providers and one million beneficiaries.

“We have a lot to do to help our patients, whether this concerns new technology or improving quality.”