ATHENS — "The situation in Thessaloniki had to 'get to the brink' for the government to proceed with the requisitioning of private clinics. But when we talk about requisitioning, we mean real requisitioning, without bargains and extra gifts for the owners of the clinics that have been gaining money for so many years. There is no time to lose. Now the government should requisition all the units and include them in the national plan for dealing with the pandemic," the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Central Committee, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, said on Friday.

"Let us all consider at this critical time how damaging the position of all governments to date has been for the so-called 'harmonious coexistence' of the public and private sectors and how tragically urgent is the need for an exclusively public and free health system that serves modern needs," he stressed.