(File photo)

Parliament has approved an extension of pharmacy opening hours, cuts to drugs spending and the merger debt-strapped supplementary pension as part of a package of healthcare reforms agreed in return for last week's 130bn euro international bailout deal.

 

The early morning vote on Thursday, the final significant element in the package of so-called "prior actions" which the government had promised before this week's European Union summit, follows Tuesday's approval of 3.2bn euros in budget cuts and a steep reduction in the minimum wage.

 

Deputies voted 213 to 58 to approve the package, with 17 abstaining in a result which was generally expected after the two coalition parties, Pasok and New Democracy, backed the package.

 

As well as extending pharmacy hours, an issue which sparked a revolt among lawmakers who rejected the proposal in January, the law limits spending on drugs by state pension funds and mandates generic drugs prescriptions to cut costs.

 

The government spends some 25bn euros a year, roughly 10 percent of its GDP, on health and controlling a bloated public health system, has been a priority.

 

Cheaper generic drugs account for just 18 percent of the market in Greece, one of the lowest levels in the European Union, compared with 80 percent in Germany.

 

The latest measures aim to lift the Greek total to 50 percent, in line with the rest of Europe.

 

Resistance to the measures among powerful medical lobbies has been fierce however with posters attacking Health Minister Andreas Loverdos as a "gravedigger" plastered over many pharmacies in recent days.

 

During the debate, he said the criticism amounted to demagoguery and that he was being personally attacked by an "alliance of private interests".