A government app allows doctors to issue medical documents which their patients can then access online, Health Minister Thanos Plevris and eGovernance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said.
Under the myHealthapp, a doctor for example could issue a health certificate for carrying out sports activities, as required by gyms and pools. The doctor logs in the app, fills out the certificate through templates provided for various uses, and either sends it to the patient or prints it out at his or her office. Patients who are signed up in the system for electronic prescriptions get an SMS (text message) with a barcode on their cellphones and access the document through email, in PDF format. Those who are not, receive it in person from their doctors.
The app went into operation on Thursday and 300 citizens put it to use on that day.
The ministers said myHealth app is a precursor of a patient's case file in electronic format, which will gradually come to use as the service expands.
Also provided by the system is a check for the certificate's validity (myhealth.gov.gr/verify), which the recipient may check through the barcode. The results are reported as "valid", "expired" and "invalid" document. "Expired" refers to health certificates for pools, gyms and specific sports that require annual renewal of tests.