Samaras’s post followed a report by the newspaper Estia, which Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said was also how he became aware of the issue. ‘My dear President, a mistake was made, it was corrected, calm down,’ Georgiadis subsequently wrote in response to the former prime minister.
Rather than commenting on the soaring cost of medicines or the state of public healthcare in Greece, Samaras took aim at the options ‘Male’, ‘Female’, ‘Other’ and ‘Unspecified’ on the EOPYY platform.
‘These options appear on the EOPYY platform, where every insured person is required to declare their gender in order to receive high-cost medicines!’ the former prime minister said, adding that ‘it is the same woke agenda that has already entered the state administration and is now making its way into school textbooks’.
Continuing his appeal to the far-right electorate, Samaras claimed that ‘this is a conscious government choice’, adding that ‘beyond the absurdity when it comes to medicines, we must all realise that Greece is demographically declining and that the family needs support, not redefinition’.
‘The only thing that is “undefined” here is the extent of the ruling party’s ideological mutation,’ Samaras added, concluding: ‘On the contrary, one thing is certain: this policy has nothing to do not only with New Democracy, but also with the overwhelming majority of the Greek people, with their principles, values and dignity.’
Georgiadis: ‘The platform has already changed’
Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis, for his part, was quick to describe the inclusion of the options as a ‘mistake’ and announce that they had been removed.
‘It emerged that the developer of this electronic platform, an EOPYY contractor, had designed it this way in accordance with the requirements of an ISO standard,’ he said, shifting responsibility for the inclusion of gender identity options to the contractor.
‘I immediately gave the order for it to be changed, not because I want to infringe on anyone’s rights, but because, when it comes to the use of medicines, self-identification could potentially pose health risks. As we speak, the platform has already been changed,’ he added, before urging the former prime minister to remain ‘calm’.
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