A lawmaker from Greece’s governing New Democracy party is facing a complaint that she gave patients Botox and other cosmetic treatments at her microbiology practice. The MP, Stella Arampatzi, represents the northern region of Imathia and is a microbiologist herself. She has two practices there, in Naousa and Angelochori. The Imathia Health Directorate has already conducted an inspection at her practice, according to reports, and she has been asked to provide answers and explanations.
The complaint comes as MedWatch, a new government platform that monitors the advertising and licensing of private medical providers, has stepped up inspections of unlicensed practices across Greece. The crackdown followed the death in September of the singer Giorgos Mazonakis during plasmapheresis, a blood treatment, at a private practice in the Athens neighborhood of Kolonaki. Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis has said the practice was not licensed to perform the procedure.
Two other prominent figures have also come under scrutiny: Maria Karystianou, the president of the new party Hope for Democracy, and Giorgos Patoulis, the president of the Athens Medical Association.
Karystianou, a pediatrician, became a public figure as the mother of a victim of the Tempi rail disaster. MedWatch classified her practice in its yellow or orange category, Georgiadis told a press conference, which means the case must be checked. The system shows that she holds a license, he said, and the check has been referred to the Thessaloniki Medical Association, of which she is a member. He added that he personally believes she is innocent.
The scrutiny centers on her website, which lists a biotuning machine that is used, according to the site, to detect and eradicate parasites. Matina Pagoni, president of the Panhellenic Medical Association, told the television channel MEGA that doctors do not use such a device and that it must be declared and licensed before use. Karystianou rejected that in an interview, saying biotuning is a noninvasive diagnostic tool that needs no license. Inspectors visited her practice earlier this week, the leader of Hope for Democracy claimed,. According to Karystianou, they looked at the machines and left after she showed them her certifications. Her close associate Maria Gratsia told TO BHMA that the case amounted to “political persecution” and “an attempt at intimidation.”
Giorgos Patoulis, the president of the Athens Medical Association, the body responsible for inspecting doctors in the capital, is also facing complaints over his involvement with a wellness and longevity group. The complaints are now with the National Transparency Authority, known as EAD. Georgiadis said he does not doubt Patoulis’s integrity, but that everyone must be subject to scrutiny and that only the EAD can handle the complaints.
MedWatch, which Georgiadis introduced about ten days before his press conference, uses artificial intelligence to scan the online presence of private providers in Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki. The public can use its mobile app to check a practice’s licenses or file complaints. At the Sept. 29 briefing, Georgiadis reported 911 prohibited advertisements for Botox and similar procedures, 468 cases of people who are not doctors advertising medical treatments and 231 cases of stem cells administered without approval. Online advertising for medical procedures has since fallen 91 percent, he said.
The inspections have also reached a clinic in Thessaloniki, which authorities have ordered closed within 15 days, once its patients have been moved. It had been running an oncology department in violation of the operating certificate issued by the regional administration. Inspectors found it was administering chemotherapy drugs with staff and specialist shortages and without a mandatory intensive care unit.
