Greece is nearing the implementation of its long-awaited plan for palliative care. According to information obtained by TO BHMA, a Presidential Decree that represents one of the final critical institutional steps is currently before the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court.
Once the decree is issued, about six months will be needed to establish the conditions required for the plan to begin being implemented.
The decree sets out the terms and conditions for establishing and operating Palliative Care Facilities for Patients (DAFA), and its issuance is expected to unlock a series of subsequent steps. Its review by the Council of State is a required stage for regulatory decrees before they are issued.
At the same time, the National Committee for the Development of Palliative Care has completed a large part of the preparatory work assigned to it following the establishment of the new system in 2022.
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“The National Committee has formulated and submitted to the Central Health Council all the provisions required by the relevant law for the development of palliative care,” Dimitris Protogiros, a full member and secretary of the National Committee, tells TO BHMA.
As he points out, “their implementation requires time, but that time falls within the timetable outlined in the National Action Plan for Palliative Care, which was published last June.”
What Still Needs to Be Done
The issuance of the Presidential Decree does not mean that Greece will have a fully operational palliative care network the following day. A series of regulatory and organizational measures will still need to be completed or put in place, several of which have already been prepared by the Committee and approved by the Central Health Council.
One key outstanding issue is the ministerial decision establishing operating standards for Palliative Care Facilities. The relevant draft was submitted to the Central Health Council in August 2024 and approved in December 2025, but the ministerial decision itself has yet to be issued.
The Central Health Council has also approved proposals concerning the requirements and procedures for admitting patients to Palliative Care Facilities, as well as the training framework for healthcare professionals and other members of the multidisciplinary team.
Other outstanding measures include determining how palliative care services will be reimbursed and priced, creating a Palliative Care Patient Registry and completing the procedures for establishing a medical specialization in Palliative Medicine.
At the same time, a proposal to create an independent Palliative Care Department within the Ministry of Health has been accepted, with its purpose and responsibilities already defined. The department is expected to be included in the ministry’s new organizational structure.
135,000 Patients Every Year
Behind the administrative and institutional procedures lies a major unmet need. According to the National Action Plan, approximately 135,000 patients in Greece require palliative care services every year.
If their families and caregivers are also taken into account, as many as 1.2 million people are estimated to be able to benefit from the development of a comprehensive system.
Today, however, less than 1% of the need for specialized palliative care is being met.
The National Action Plan for 2025-2030 envisions an entirely different model. An estimated 500 specialized palliative care beds are needed, but the greatest emphasis is expected to be placed on supporting patients at home.
More than 95% of patients are estimated to be able to receive home-based services, for which approximately 300 multidisciplinary teams are expected to be developed.
The total cost of the plan through 2030 is estimated at about €369 million, with the largest share of resources earmarked for developing and operating the services.
From Legislation to Implementation
The distance between establishing a system in law and putting it into practice has proved considerable.
Palliative care was formally established in December 2022 under Law 5007/2022. The National Committee was formed in October 2023 and tasked with proposing the regulatory and organizational interventions required.
The National Action Plan was completed in 2024, approved by the Central Health Council in March 2025 and published in June 2026.
It is Greece’s first comprehensive roadmap for palliative care, extending through 2030 and consisting of eight strategic pillars and 27 strategic actions.
The Committee’s work, however, extends beyond preparing regulations.
“It provides opinions on every other issue concerning palliative care, such as the creation of public facilities, the correct use of terminology — palliative care rather than ‘comfort care’ — as well as every organizational or scientific issue related to palliative care, while working with all relevant stakeholders,” Protogiros says.
The planning already includes a palliative care department at the new Theageneio Cancer Hospital in Thessaloniki and a pediatric palliative care department at the new Children’s Hospital of Thessaloniki.
At the same time, a proposal to establish a public palliative care facility in the Attica region is being developed.
The coming period will therefore be critical. The Committee has completed most of the recommendations required by law, but those recommendations must now be turned into ministerial decisions, a Presidential Decree, funded services and functioning facilities.
The issuance of the Presidential Decree will be the most important next milestone.
From there, according to the estimate Protogiros gives TO BHMA, approximately six months will be needed to establish the conditions for the plan to begin being implemented.
Then the more substantive test will begin: whether a system that for years existed primarily as an unmet need and, since 2022, as an institutional framework can finally reach the approximately 135,000 patients who need it every year.