Andreas Gavrielides is new Health Minister

Financial Mirror Online
Monday,  January 24, 2005, 14.00

President Tassos Papadopoulos appointed Monday a former agriculture minister as his new Health Minister, after the previous official resigned two months ago.

Andreas Gavrielides was chosen among a list of candidates proposed by the communist coalition partner, AKEL. He will be sworn in on February 1.

He served as Minister of Agriculture from 1988 to 1993 under then President George Vassiliou, who also enjoyed the backing of the communist party at the time.

In his first public statement accepting the appointment, Gavrielides said he thanked AKEL for his nomination and that his main priorities would be the National Health Scheme, the completion of the new General Hospital which is far behind schedule and far above budget, and the new pricing policy for cheaper medication that will come into effect in March.

The previous Health Minister, Dina Akkelidou, a leading figure within the communist party, resigned in November after being charged by the Attorney General for attempting to interfere with the course of justice in a case involving a drug addict.

At the time, Interior Minister Andreas Christou, stepped in as Deputy Health Minister.

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