World Hospitals and Health Services - International Hospital ...

COUNTRY PROFILE: GREECE
The development of the
Greek health care system
PROFESSOR THEODOROS SYRAKOS
MEDICAL SCHOOL, ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI
DR SOPHIA CHATZICOCOLI
ARCHITECT, THESSALONKI
Historically, Greece is recognised as the origin of
western civilisation and the birth place of the arts
and sciences in general. In particular, Greece is
considered to be the birth place of medical science founded
by Hippocrates (460-370 BC). He is internationally
recognised as ‘the Father of Medicine’ and of health care
systems, originally initiated by the network of Asklepieia.
Asklepieia were cult-places of the divine physician and
healing god, Asklepios, the mythical son of God Apollo, who
was himself the physician of the Olympian Gods. In fact,
Asklepieia were the first hospitals (or health care campuses)
in Europe. The first Asklepieion was believed to have been
founded by Asklepios himself in Thessalia, in the central
mainland of Greece around the time of Trojan War, in which
Asklepios’ two sons are supposed to have participated.
Asklepieia flourished for many centuries, until approximately
the 6th century AD and only stopped functioning with the
prevalence of Christianity.
More than 500 Asklepieia have been found and/or
mentioned in literary sources in the then Hellenic territory.
A kind of holistic health care was offered in Asklepieia. This
arose from the concept of illness as a result of the interaction
of physical, psychological, social and environmental factors.
This understanding of holistic health care originated from
the Hellenic (Greek) Philosophy and Mythology.
During the Byzantine Empire the healthcare system was
mainly formed by a network of Xenones and Nosokomeia ,
hospitals supported by the state, the Orthodox Church and
the monasteries, offering healthcare services mostly
characterised by the Christian ideal of ‘philanthropy’.
During the dark ages of Ottoman occupation (from the fall
of Constantinoupolis in 1453 to the Greek revolution of
1821 and the final liberation of the present day Greek
territory at the beginning of the 20th century) numerous
physicians escaped abroad and the main sources for health
care support were offered by the Orthodox Church and the
local Greek authorities, both in a continual struggle to avoid
any controversies with the Ottoman ruler.
After the liberation, Greece attempted to recover and to
catch up with the developments of Western countries. The
main factors for the creation and direction of the modern
ENEGRO
MACEDONIA
ri
ia
a
A
Tirane
ALBANIA
GREECE
Xanthi
Aegean
Khania
Ionian Sea
Iraklion
Mediterranean Sea
Figure 1: Greece
Skopje
Patrai
Sofia
Athens
Burgas
Istanbul
Izmir
Greek health care system have been the achievements of
‘Western’ medical science, technology and health care
systems thinking, the structure of the socioeconomic life
influenced by the development of the newly established
Greek state and the workers, as well as the public demands
inspired by the Greek historical tradition and modern needs
and views.
The modern system
As early as 1836 the first health insurance funded services
started to appear and develop independently. In 1917 the
Ministry of Healthcare was established. Since then, almost
every new government has changed the organising plan of
that Ministry referring to notions such as health, social
welfare, social insurance, etc. In March 2004, the present
Ministry of Health and Welfare was formed. However, other
ministries have supplementary roles in health promotion
and health care planning such as the Ministry for the
Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works, the
Ministry of Education, etc.
The main steps towards social insurance relating to
employment date from the period 1932 to 1961 with the
establishment of the National Insurance Organisation (IKA)
Bu
10 | World Hospitals and Health Services | Vol. 40 No. 3