ATHENS – “I am happy for three reasons: Because I am back at work after my Covid adventure, and I can assure you that the vaccines are effective and safe. We have an obligation to further strengthen the national health system, to make it more resilient but also to upgrade the quality of care,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during his greeting on Monday at the official opening of the new facilities of the European Centre of Excellence for Quality in Care and Patient Safety, established in Athens by the World Health Organisation.

“The pandemic highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of the national health system. We have to get used to living with covid in the long run. I want to ensure that regardless of where one lives in Greece, one will have quality medical services. Children and adolescents are the most vulnerable in our society, their mental health is very important, it is important to offer them the best possible care in terms of their mental health,” the prime minister said.

The opening of the centre coincided with an announcement of the launch of a programme to protect the mental health of children and adolescents in the WHO Europe region.