Electronic health record from... cradle will be acquired in the first quarter of 2022 by all children, while immediately after New Year's Day The issuance of 656,500 digital signatures to professionals, accountants, lawyers, notaries, civil servants, and citizens who request them is commencing.
As he reveals in an interview with «NEA» Minister of State and Digital Governance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, 2022 will be a landmark year for digital transformation of the country, as more and more services will be available through smart mobile phones: Driver's licenses, health insurance cards, and ID cards are entering the digital age.
-What is the digital summary of the year that is coming to an end?;
Based on quantitative figures, Greece made particularly significant progress in 2021. If we look at electronic transactions in recent years, we can see that there has been a very large increase: from 8.8 million transactions in 2018, we moved to 34 million in 2019, last year we exceeded 94 million, and this year we are expected to record more than 300 million! This increase is exponential and is due to the electronic services we have implemented in the gov.gr environment.
-2021 was marked by the smooth organization of the vaccination program, while the MyHealth app has already been in operation for four months. Will other digital health services follow in 2022?;
The use of technological tools in health services is one of the issues on which the Prime Minister places particular emphasis., Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Such applications have significant added value for citizens. This is how the idea for the application was born. MyHealth, which is the prototype of Electronic Health Record. Our goal is to enable citizens—and, of course, the doctors they choose—to view their entire medical history in one place.
We started MyHealth with medical prescriptions and referrals, recently added medical certificates, and in the first quarter of 2022 we will activate a particularly important extension: the electronic child health record, through which parents and pediatricians will be able to refer to both the pediatric history and the vaccinations that have been given or are due, and record data on the child's health and development.
-In terms of identification, what can citizens expect?;
We are pursuing a strategy of digitizing identification, i.e., providing services with a much higher level of security from our home or work, from our mobile phone, computer, or tablet. We started in March 2020 with digitization of the authorization and the responsible statement, perhaps the two most common services provided by the Greek state, which had the authenticity of signatures at their core.
A few weeks ago, we continued with the authentication of signatures on any document, as well as on private agreements. Access to these services is subject to additional security measures. In January, we will begin issuing 656,500 digital signatures to professionals, accountants, lawyers, notaries, civil servants, and citizens.
-You have stated that your goal is for everything to be done via mobile phones. When will this occur?;
Sure, the next step is further utilize the wallet on our mobile phones, something we already do for digital Covid-19 certificates and has greatly facilitated citizens. There, services such as driver's license, something we are already developing together with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. However, this will only be the beginning. Identification – essentially our identity – should be transferred to our mobile phones.. This is already the case for most things, even money transfers. And it is safer than the situation we are currently trying to overcome, with its excessive bureaucracy and constant use of paper certificates.
And of course, when the competition for new ID cards is complete, we will be able to say that our identity will have been fully transferred to our mobile phones, as the most comprehensive authentication application for all government services will have been developed.
-What remains to be done in the field of justice?;
Most Greek judicial procedures have considerable scope for acceleration through digitization and simplification. From the outset, we have been working closely with the relevant minister, Kostas Tsiaras, and his team to make the most of as many digital tools as possible in this direction. Already, The pandemic accelerated many of our actions: the electronic issuance of court certificates, the electronic receipt of court decisions, and the electronic filing of court documents.
In addition, a few days ago, we announced the service for real-time updates, regarding the progress of exhibits in court, the lists we are all familiar with, initially for the Athens Court of First Instance, which saves lawyers and litigants a huge amount of time.
-What can the legal profession expect?;
In early 2022, all lawyers are set to receive free new type of digital signature, which will greatly facilitate their work. The «Greece 2.0» plan includes a large section on projects to speed up the justice system through digitization, which have already begun to be put out to tender, and we are optimistic that they will improve the day-to-day work of the courts as much as possible.
