The changes began when Adonis Georgiadis appointed a temporary board of directors and a new chief executive, Panos Efstathiou. The arrangement effectively created a dual leadership structure within the organisation.

Speaking to the television channel Action24, Georgiadis said the resignations were linked to an incident involving the then president of EODY and an employee.

‘A difficult situation occurred there. The resignation did not happen because of disagreements – we had resolved those a month ago. There was an incident between the president and an employee, and both sides have been accused. Under these circumstances he could not continue his presence at EODY. The matter will be clarified in the courts. I do not want to get involved further in this process,’ the minister said.

Leadership changes and tensions

Efstathiou, who was appointed in December, previously served as administrator of the National Centre for Health Operations (EKEPY) from 2004 to 2010. He has also chaired the executive committee for the influenza pandemic and the crisis management team of the health ministry, and served as a member of the scientific council of EKAB.

According to a report by To Vima, the new organisational structure led to tensions within EODY, prompting the scientific council to attempt to resign about a month ago. At that time, however, the resignation was not finalised after intervention by the health minister, and the council agreed to continue temporarily.

The dual leadership structure ultimately proved unworkable, and the council’s resignation was submitted again to the political leadership of the health ministry, which accepted it.

Members who resigned

The members of the scientific council who stepped down are:

• Christos Hadjichristodoulou – president
• Dimitrios Hadjigeorgiou – vice-president
• Maria Pirounaki – member
• Christos Papatheodorou – member
• Dimitrios Paraskevis – member
• Vasiliki Papaevangelou – member
• Emmanuel Roilidis – member
• Evangelia Nena – alternate member
• Antonios Vasilogiannakopoulos – alternate member
• Antonios Michailakis – alternate member
• Lemonia Skoura – alternate member
• Emmanuel Symvoulakis – alternate member
• Christos Kontovounisios – alternate member

Georgiadis said the council had worked effectively during its tenure and thanked its members for their contribution, adding that some opposition parties had attempted to use the situation to criticise him.

‘Mr Hadjichristodoulou and the board worked well for EODY and I want to thank them. I say this because some opposition parties rushed to accuse me, as if everything that goes wrong in Greece is Georgiadis’ fault,’ he said.

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