The current situation of GP/FM and Health System organisation and training in Greece.

Why should one visit Greece?

Greece is a unique country with a rich historical and cultural background, standing at the crossroads between North and South, East and West. It has 11 million inhabitants, among them many immigrants (mainly from Eastern Europe). Our economy depends mainly on tourism, light industry and farming.

Regarding the health sector, Greece is of great interest because it has a plethora of mountainous, remote (even isolated) areas, both on islands and in the mainland, many of which are inhabited but difficult to reach. (To paint the picture more vividly, the estimated total number of Greek islands, including the ones which are not inhabited, is 3288...).

The National Healthcare System in Greece has been introduced in its current form in 1983 under the influence of the WHO and the EEC directives. The provision of healthcare services is separated in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. The primary healthcare services are provided in rural areas mainly by Health Care Centers and their satellite Health Posts while in semi-rural and urban areas by the group practices of the former existing social security system (called in Greek IKA) , the outpatient practices of the big hospitals and doctors working in the private sector. Here is the post of General Practitioners. We work in the ER of the Health Care Centers but we run the outpatient surgeries of the Greek NHS too.

Our specialty is relatively new in Greece (with no more than 20 years of existence), it is absent in the curriculum of the most Greek Medical Schools. In the light of this, it is obvious why we are proud to have managed to achieve an increase in the total number of GP/ FM trainees although we have waiting lists  that, in many hospitals, exceeds the 4 years. ...

GP/FM Training in Greece

The training in GP/FM in Greece lasts 4 years and covers most of the necessary knowledge and skills that a specialist in the field needs in order to deliver primary health care services. Most of this training takes place in secondary and tertiary care hospitals. Only a small part of GP/FM training in Greece takes place in primary health care centers (10 months in the 4-year period). To meet the EURACT standards, some of the time the trainee spends attending other specialties (e.g. psychiatry and statistics, epidemiology and methodology of research) is also considered as spent in a primary health care setting, due to the nature of the training conditions. 

So far as the actual training program is concerned, it consists of the following 15 parts, lasting from 1-10 months:

l 1. Internal Medicine-6 months

l 2. Cardiology-3 months

l 3. Dermatology-2 months

l 4. Pediatrics-4 months

l 5. Surgery-4 months

l 6. Orthopedics & Traumatology -3 months

l 7. Obstetrics & Gynecology-3 months

l 8. Ophthalmology-2 months

l 9. ORL-2 months

l 10. Psychiatry -3 months

l 11. Microbiology-2 months

l 12. Radiology-1 month

l 13. Intensive Care-2 months

l 14. Seminars on Epidemiology, Methodology of Research, Statistics, Informatics -1 month

l 15. Primary Health Care Center-10 months

In case you want to visit Greece and take a glimpse of the Greek NHS system and of the Greek culture and hospitality you can contact Greece's National Exchange Coordinator.

National Exchange Coordinator for Greece

Dr Lenia Chovarda (leniagp@gmail.com)