Adonis Georgiades about the cancer-path incident in Crete: He made an appointment and didn’t come.

“There was a shortage for a few days, we had intervened directly,” the Minister of Health tells Live News, about the incident with the suicide in Crete. Speaking on the MEGA show, Mr Georgiadis expressed his condolences to the 72-year-old family. Shock has caused the news that a 72-year-old cancer patient from Heraklion, Crete, ended his life, as the medicine he would use for his chemotherapy was extinct. The unfortunate elderly had been diagnosed with lung cancer, with doctors writing him a medicine that did not exist on the Greek market, according to complaints from his relatives. After a road race, the drug was finally found and chemotherapy was scheduled for Tuesday morning (12.03.2024), however last Sunday (10.03.2024) the elderly, not putting up with pain, ended his life. By his intervention in Live News, Health Minister, Adonis Georgiades, after expressing his condolences to the 72-year-old’s family, noted: “Because it was heard that the National Health System is responsible for its lack of etoposide, this is not entirely accurate. Etoposide is a cheap drug of 11 euros, there was a shortage for a few days. We had intervened directly from the ministry and secured an order via IFT directly. Now there is a normal introduction, the lack has been fully restored.” As Mr Georgiades says: “We had booked the patient, according to our electronic system, a date to receive his treatment at 4/3. He didn’t come in and he was notified electronically. We made him a new appointment for today where he eventually did not come.” “PET SCAN is a very heavy examination, there is no health system that has a plethora of PET SCAN, this is not so easy to do. Some small waiting always exists in these cases”, it complements. According to the minister: “The medicine would be taken by the patient. If he didn’t find it once, a drug was found, a date was made and he didn’t come. At the moment there is no drug shortage, we have introduced, we have corrected the problem that existed with its price.” Watch Live News’ story with Nikos Evangelatos: