Niarchos Foundation Health Initiative grants €420 million for new hospitals in Komotini, Sparta and Thessaloniki (photos)

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) announced a health partnership with the Greek government that will include three new hospitals and other initiatives worth a total of 420 million euros in funding.

The details of the partnership were unveiled by SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos at a discussion at the SNF Cultural Center, in the presence of Greek President Prokopios Pavlopoulos, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the leadership of the Health ministry, ministers and MPs, academics and the general public.

“Access to quality healthcare should be a fundamental right for all people—from the very young to the very old and from big cities to remote islands. Health is about something more essential than hospitals and equipment. It’s about hope, dignity, and respect. This belief drives the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s (SNF) vision for the health sector in Greece: improving health services to improve life for all of us,” SNF said in a statement.

Komotini General Hospital (to be completed June 2024), Sparta General Hospital (2025) and the Thessaloniki Pediatric Hospital (2024) will be designed by Renzo Piano, who also designed the complex that includes SNF’s Cultural Center, the National Library and the National Opera, and who attended the event. Each general hospital is budgeted at 90 million euros, and the children’s hospital at 150 million euros.

Anna Korakaki to become first woman to start Olympic torch relay

Greek Olympic shooting champion Anna Korakaki has been selected to start the torch relay for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the first time in games history a woman is serving as the first torchbearer.

Greece's Olympic Committee said Thursday it picked Korakaki, who took gold in the women's 25-meter pistol event at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, to receive the Olympic flame from an actress playing the role of a high priestess in a flame-lighting ceremony to be held on March 12 at Ancient Olympia.

After Korakaki runs the first part of the relay, she will pass the torch to Mizuki Noguchi, the winner of the women's marathon in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Noguchi will be the first Japanese person to carry the 2020 Olympic flame when she collects it in Olympia, western Greece.