Short shrift given to copycat tooth implant claims

DEPUTY Attorney-general Akis Papasavvas who infamously charged the Health Ministry €17,000 for teeth implants has inspired a succession of equally invalid petitions, a Health Ministry official confirmed yesterday.

He was responding to a report in Politis newspaper yesterday which ran a story about civil servant Gianakis Eracleous who copied exactly Papasavvas’ request to have his medical expenses reimbursed. He made the application, he said, as a test case in order to see “whether this government respects the constitution and treats all citizens equally”. Eracleous said he had received no response from the Health Ministry.

Papasavvas was exposed in the scandal last year after the newspaper revealed he had applied for and swiftly received €17,000 from the state to cover expenses for new teeth implants which are normally paid for privately. Following the uproar which followed, the Deputy Attorney-general returned the money although he insisted that he had done nothing wrong.

“The Ministry made a mistake in the case of Papasavvas but we cannot keep repeating this mistake,” the Health Ministry’s Kypros Manoulos said yesterday.

Around 50 people have copied Papasavvas’ claim, Manoulos said.

However, they have all failed to follow the correct procedure, said Manoulos.

A claimant has two months to apply for reimbursement of her medical expenses to the Health Ministry which refers the application to a Committee of Specialists. The committee then assesses the claim and refers the case to the Health Minister for ratification. Papasavvas did not follow that procedure and has since returned the €17,000, Manoulos said.

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