The welcome speeches of the conference were given by Greek representatives Mr. Nikolaos Nomikos, Advisor of the General Secretariat of Health Services Mrs. Lilian Vildiridis, Mr. Vasilios Balanis, Managing Director of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Health (ODIPY SA), and Mrs. Eleni Giannopoulou, representative of the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg Greece-Italy Program. From the Italian side, Mr. Gianfranco Gadaleta, Coordinator of the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg Greece-Italy Program, and Mr. Giovanni Gorgoni and Mr. Franscesco Fera, Managing Director and Project Director of AReSS Puglia, respectively.
During the conference, among other things, a presentation of the project by Mr. Eleftherios Thireos, Head of the General Directorate of ODIPY SA, as well as digital health service applications for patients and health professionals, and online collaboration tools developed during the project were discussed. The Italian platform "COReHealth" and the Greek platform "eHealthPass" were presented, which were piloted in combination with an oximeter system and gateway in a network of hospitals in Greece, namely the University General Hospital of Patras, the University General Hospital of Ioannina, and the General Hospital of Ioannina "G. Chatzikostas". The platform provides the ability to design and monitor individualized treatment plans, online real-time automated collection and storage of medical measurements from wirelessly connected medical equipment, support for emergency needs, while demonstrating the operational potential for immediate and safe patient management with Covid-19 through its digital and telemetry functions. In addition, the web collaboration platform (https://mhealth.coofhea2.eu/) was presented, which supports the access of hospitals participating in the project and health professionals to scientific studies and best practices, with the aim of optimizing their cooperation and transferring expertise. Members of the General Hospital of Ioannina “G. Chatzikostas”, U.G.N. Patras "Panagia i Voithia", G.H. Patras "Saint Andreas", G.H. Preveza, and G.H. Arta participated in the conference and shared with the audience the contribution of the platform - and other tools of the project - to improving health services provided.
The Cooperation for Health 2 project is an example of cross-border cooperation for improving the quality of health services, a collaboration that can be capitalized and extended using the framework of the new Interreg Greece-Italy Program 2021-2027, as presented by Ms. Eleni Giannopoulou, representative of the Joint Secretariat of the Program.
The conference concluded with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Health and the Regional Health and Social Welfare Organization of the Apulia Region (AReSS Puglia), aiming to strengthen the existing collaboration of the stakeholders and promote innovation in the health sector.
Mr. Vasilios Balanis, Managing Director of ODIPY, expressed satisfaction with the progress and completion of the project, stating: “Today, our team at ODIPY, reached an important milestone. In just three years since our establishment, we are pleased to announce the of our first project funded through the European Commission. The COOFHEA 2 project came during the COVID-19 crisis that severely affected our countries and gave us the opportunity to collaborate to improve the services offered to our patients. The support from our health professionals from Patra and Ioannina has been of paramount importance as we developed best practices for the management of long Covid patients utilizing digital tools and good practices from abroad. ODIPY remains committed to its core purpose which is to continuously improve the quality of health care services in Greece”.
