Irreconcilable for the member of the board of the Health Insurance Organization (OHI) Anastasia Christodoulidou, who has been appointed by the Ministry of Health, finds the conclusion of the Incompatibilities Investigation Committee (EDA). The second conclusion of the EDA notes that “it does not appear incompatible for the labor organizations” PEO and SEK, which maintain pharmacies, whose representatives participate in the Board of Directors of the OAU. The two conclusions are dated October 25, 2022.
The members of the Board of Directors of the OAU appeared on October 15 before the EDA, as they had been summoned by the Commission, after submitting the relevant responsible statements, in order to provide some clarifications and to confirm their non-interconnection with the NHS.
“For all the members, except one, it was found that there is no incompatibility, since in their cases there is none of the conditions” mentioned in the relevant legislation, “that is, they are not the same health care providers and neither do they have any interest”, states the relevant finding. “However, this does not apply to member Anastasia Christodoulidou, who has been appointed by the Ministry of Health,” it added.
In her testimony before the Commission, Mrs. Christodoulidou stated that her husband is an importer of machinery for clinical laboratories and is a partner with laboratories that are service providers to the NHS, it is added. The conclusion notes conclusively that “an irreconcilable is created for the member Anastasia Christodoulidou, as a person who has an interest”, according to the relevant legislation.
As regards the General Secretary of PEO Sotiroula Charalambous and the Deputy General Secretary of the SEC Michalis Michael, the representatives of two of the three labor organizations that participate in the Board of Directors of the OAU, another finding states that the Commission focused on their reference to the responsible statement that both organizations maintain pharmacies that are contracted to the National Health Service.
It is added that Mrs. Charalambous reported to the Commission that the shareholding structure of the pharmacies belongs to the provincial entities of the PEO, while she clarified that the pharmacies operate to serve the members of the PEO to support them through a discount policy.
From the operation of the pharmacies “only the members of the PEO benefit financially” on the contrary, as he said, the trade unions “had significant losses from the operation of the GeSY”. The PEO does not have any financial benefit either at the provincial or central level, added Ms. Charalambous, saying that the pharmacies “essentially perform social work”. The General Manager of PEO noted that by virtue of her position she is the director of the Company “United Pharmacies PEO LTD”, but procedures have been launched to change this.
For his part, Mr. Michael confirmed that SEK maintains pharmacies that are independent companies registered with the Registrar of Companies and have been established by the provincial departments of SEK 60 years ago to help the operation of the Health Fund that the organization had created at the time.
As mentioned in the conclusion, Mr. Michael said that SEK has nothing to do with the pharmacies and their shareholders are the members of SEK or their children, as well as organizations under SEK. He also clarified that the SEK is registered with the Registrar of Guilds as a guild and neither the SEK nor its professional federations or unions can formally be shareholders of the pharmacies.
Furthermore, the Deputy General Secretary of the Greek Society of Greek Orthodox Churches stated that he has nothing to do with the pharmacies and has renounced some shares that he previously had as a member of the Greek Orthodox Church of Greek Orthodox Church, while he concluded that their concern is “to help the society get the blessing of the National Health Service” .
In its conclusion, the EDA, after noting that trade unions are subject to scrutiny for incompatibility, states that although both organizations have created and maintain pharmacies “they have no relation to the dividends and any profit from the their operation”. The beneficiaries are the members of the two organizations, says the EDA, noting that “we cannot reject the position that it is a social policy and a social contribution”.
The conclusion notes that the pharmacies in both cases are operated by separate joint stock companies and not the trade unions as such, while it is finally stated that “there is no incompatibility for the labor organizations, since no interest is established”.
