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Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in Greece, accounting for 31.9% of all deaths in 2023. More than 40,000 of our fellow citizens lose their lives each year due to circulatory system diseases, while an estimated 1.5 million Greeks are living with undiagnosed hypertension. At the European level, the economic burden of cardiovascular diseases exceeds €280 billion annually, affecting more than 60 million EU citizens.

In response to this reality, SEIV has established a new Cardiovascular Technologies Sector, with the participation of 20 member companies covering the entire value chain of the industry: in vitro diagnostics, imaging technologies, implantable devices, interventional technologies, and digital remote monitoring tools.

This initiative comes at a particularly critical policy juncture. Greece is already implementing the National Prevention Program "PROLAMVANO" ("I PREVENT"), one of the most comprehensive cardiovascular disease prevention programmes in Europe, which was presented as a best practice at the European Society of Cardiology Congress (ESC 2025).

At the European level, we welcome the recent adoption by the European Parliament's Committee on Public Health (SANT) of a report on a unified European Cardiovascular Health Strategy, as also highlighted by MedTech Europe. This represents a decisive step in addressing the leading cause of death in Europe. The increased emphasis on prevention and risk-stratified screening creates a real opportunity for early identification of high-risk patients and timely intervention before disease progression becomes life-threatening. A clear cardiovascular framework can strengthen early diagnosis, shape more targeted care pathways, and ensure timely access to innovative medical technologies-precisely the direction pursued by SEIV's new Sector at the national level.

The expertise and know-how of the companies within the new Sector, covering the full continuum of cardiovascular patient care-from prevention and early diagnosis to treatment and rehabilitation-can meaningfully contribute to a constructive dialogue with scientific societies and public authorities, aiming to jointly address a major public health challenge: the fact that cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in Greece.

SEIV, through this new Sector, is committed to contributing to this effort at both national and European level, in close collaboration with the Hellenic Society of Cardiology and MedTech Europe.

📎 View MedTech Europe's position here: https://www.medtecheurope.org/resource-library/medtech-europe-cardiovascular-sector-group-position-on-an-eu-council-recommendation-on-health-checks-for-cardiovascular-diseases