Using the Official Government Search Tools
If you’re planning retirement in Greece, these are names you’ll encounter early and often. ESY (National Health System/ Εθνικό Σύστημα Υγείας), runs the public hospitals and health centers. PEDY (Primary Care Network/ Πρωτοβάθμιο Εθνικό Δίκτυο Υγείας) is the the health centers and local clinics that sit under ESY. And EOPYY (National Organisation for the Provision of Healthcare Services / Εθνικός Οργανισμός Παροχής Υπηρεσιών Υγείας) is the is the body that contracts private doctors and pharmacies to serve the insured population.
Finding a doctor in Greece as a foreign resident means navigating both sides of this system. Both are searchable through official government portals, but here’s the catch retirees should know upfront: while the government’s cross-border healthcare hub is presented in English, the actual search engines it links out to are almost all in Greek only.
The starting point is the Hellenic National Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare, which explains how to find a healthcare provider in Greece. This page breaks the country into seven regional health authorities: Attica, Piraeus and the Aegean, Western Macedonia, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Thessaly and Central Greece, the Peloponnese and Western Greece, and Crete. Each with its own link to PEDY health centers and ESY hospitals. None of these regional directories are in English, so a browser translation tool or a Greek-speaking friend is genuinely useful here, not optional. For private doctors under contract with EOPYY, the same page points to the EOPYY search tool and the eFindDoctor platform. Again, Greek-language only, searchable by specialty and municipality.
A second, more streamlined page Healthcare Providers in Greece consolidates the same regional links plus the EOPYY search engine in one place. The practical takeaway: play with the tool, find the specialists, call them, save the phone, so when needed the contact will be established.
For emergency hospital care, you may call the European helpline 112 or the national helpline 166 to ask for an ambulance or rescue service. You will be transported to the nearest ESY-hospital on duty. Εmergency ambulance transportation provided by the public health system is free of charge for everyone in Greece, including tourists and foreign nationals, regardless of their insurance status.
SOURCES
Hellenic National Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare: Finding a Healthcare Provider in Greece
Hellenic National Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare: Healthcare Providers in Greece
Ministry of Health, Hellenic Republic: moh.gov.gr (Greek only)
EOPYY (National Organisation for the Provision of Healthcare Services): Organization page
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