Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-05-03

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Government sources criticize Mitsotakis for describing deal with lenders as 'fourth program'

[02] Parliamentary committee probing health sector scandals begins work

[01] Government sources criticize Mitsotakis for describing deal with lenders as 'fourth program'

The sources were responding to comments by Mitsotakis and ND party officials who said the technical deal achieved with lenders is essentially a fourth austerity program for Greece.

Speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency on how the government brought about the deal, the sources said: "The main principle on which the Greek programs have been designed is defined by the idea, 'we receive funding-we implement measures'. But what happened this time, despite the IMF's demands for measures totaling 4.5 billion euros, is that the Greek government will receive the foreseen installment without new measures for 2017 and 2018."

[02] Parliamentary committee probing health sector scandals begins work

"The scope to which the investigation could potentially spread is enormous," committee president Antonis Balomenakis said at the meeting, adding that the main concern should be "to evaluate and actions and priorities, exhausting the margins of investigation."

The committee will debate the following three main issues:

-The surge in pharmaceutical expenditure and hospital operating costs, the over-pricing of drugs, and medical devices, the mechanisms and procedures for pricing, the negotiation of acceptable prices, the compensation for expensive medicines and other materials, the harmful contracts, the administrative actions and the regulatory acts of ministers and their supervisors.

-The management of Public Law and Private Law legal entities in the health sector and primarily at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Supplies, contracts for the provision of support services, materials and work charges, recruitment of personnel, triangular type of transactions with companies and suppliers and advertising expenses.

-The case of Henry Dunant Hospital: The board, the management, causes of overcharges, loans and their consequences, its sale through an auction with a single bidder of private interests, possible damage to the assets of the hospital and the opaque harmful transfers of assets.

Participating lawmakers agreed on the need to shed light on the cases mentioned and propose solutions, adding "people have expectations from this committee". It was also agreed that the committee should not be used for partisan expediency.

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