The evidence from the case file concerning the two accused doctors, I. Gaka and her husband, I. Theodoropoulos, which has been leaked to the media, as well as statements by the lawyer representing the family of G. Mazonakis, clearly highlight their responsibility for his death and their attempt to cover it up.

Mazonakis died of cardiac arrest while he was connected to a plasmapheresis machine that they were operating illegally at their private medical practice in Kolonaki. As the First Department of Nephrology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki stated, among other things, with plasmapheresis, “the plasma is removed and replaced with replacement fluid, usually fresh frozen plasma (FFP) or an albumin solution… Plasmapheresis is a specialized therapeutic intervention for serious illnesses. It is NOT performed in outpatient clinics, health centers or small hospitals. In Greece, it is performed exclusively in organized tertiary hospitals…”

The two doctors delayed dramatically in notifying the National Emergency Aid Centre (EKAB), ignored or failed to notice warnings from the machine about possible thrombosis, and unsuccessfully attempted resuscitation without having the necessary equipment at the clinic (a defibrillator apparently was not working), and did so incorrectly, using AI (!) to find relevant information. They lied about the time Mazonakis arrived at the clinic, claimed that plasmapheresis had not begun, deleted photographs of the singer that they had taken on their phones during the procedure, deleted the appointment from the computer, and “cleaned up” the premises.

The luxurious medical practice on Karneadou Street in Kolonaki had a name that “said it all”: The Stem Cell Clinic, while operating under a license for an ordinary general medical practice. According to the leaked information, Theodoropoulos had recently established a company importing plasmapheresis machines, based in Kolonaki. The accused doctors claim that they had notified the Medical Association about the plasmapheresis machines and that an inspection had been carried out for the first one in 2025, while an inspection for the second had been scheduled for September 2026. According to the ISA (Athens Medical Association), previous inspections of the clinic had found no plasmapheresis machines.

But as early as 2023, Gaka had publicly presented the plasmapheresis machine that, as she stated, she already had at her clinic, at a conference entitled “Wellness Tourism in Greece,” organized by the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), under the auspices of the Ministries of Health and Tourism, in cooperation with the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels. At the same conference were present, or spoke, the then Minister of Health Plevris, the then Minister of Tourism Kikilias, and the then and current president of the ISA, Patoulis.

Did the latter not know then what he knows today—that such serious medical procedures, which are recommended for specific illnesses, cannot be performed outside a hospital?

Mazonakis’s death does not concern only two fraudulent doctors in Kolonaki. It concerns the government as a whole, which consciously and through specific actions is planning and pushing for the privatization and commodification of Health—and specifically of blood/plasma. The numerous “medical practices” and “clinics” run by all kinds of quacks do not spring up on their own.

At the same 2023 conference, where Gaka was a speaker, Kikilias “made particular reference to the bill being prepared by the Ministries of Health–Tourism and Development, in cooperation with the Region of Attica (editor’s note: Patoulis was regional governor until 2023). As he said, it would provide for the possibility of certified clinics—certified by the Ministry of Health—to operate and provide specialized services, such as assisted reproduction and dialysis, as well as wellness services, within large tourist resorts.” Plevris, meanwhile, spoke “about the need to investigate needs at the European as well as global level and create the corresponding services.” (Report: mononews).

How would all these “marvels” be achieved? “For the Health Medical Tourism sector, there are available funds exceeding €1 billion, which can be allocated through the Development Law, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (Greece 2.0 Plan), and the NSRF 2021–27,” said the then Secretary General for Public Investments and Partnerships at the Ministry of Development and Investments at the conference.

Draft bill

A year later, in May 2024, when Georgiadis was now Minister of Health, in.gr (Anna Papadomarkaki) published a draft bill “allowing private blood-plasma collection centers and the creation of an Independent Blood Authority.” It reported:

“The government intends to allow commercial activity involving blood and plasma donors’ plasma, according to a draft bill… For this reason, it provides that plasma donors will also receive ‘a little something’… Indeed, this compensation will be exempt from seizure and taxation… The government is taking its cue for entrepreneurship involving blood plasma, and paid plasma donation, from the European Regulation approved at the end of April on ‘substances of human origin.’” But “…the draft bill deals only with regulating the commercial activity of companies that will manufacture medicines using as their raw material the plasma collected from Greek donors. Indeed, to facilitate this new activity, it also provides for the creation of an Independent Blood Authority, removing responsibilities from the EKEA (National Blood Donation Centre)… Local authorities and the Church, private-law legal entities, as well as non-profit NGOs, are now given the possibility of establishing private blood collection centers for transfusion or fractionation, as well as plasma collection centers for fractionation…”

“The Health Ministry’s draft bill for the collection and processing of plasma by the private sector comes as a continuation of Mr. Georgiadis’s statements at the recent International Congress of the PPTA (Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association, i.e. the association of pharmaceutical companies that manufacture medicines from plasma),” wrote Charis Matsouka in Epochi on 2/6/24. “The minister’s statements were as follows: ‘I want to send you a clear message: our government, a business-friendly government, a reformist government, is absolutely willing to change the legislation in a direction that will allow the plasma collection field to develop as quickly as possible… We will use all kinds of tools that other countries have used to achieve this…’”

The collection, testing and processing of blood and plasma in our country, as well as in the vast majority of EU countries, are under the control of the public sector, specifically Blood Donation Services, Blood Centres, and the National Competent Authority of the National Blood Donation Centre (EKEA). “The new legislation takes us back decades to the now-infamous era of paid blood donation and private blood ‘banks,’ which were shut down by law in 1979,” the writer noted at the time.

The publication of the government’s plans provoked strong reactions from associations of people suffering from Mediterranean anemia, healthcare workers and others. The bill was not brought forward for a vote, but the plans remained.

“It is no coincidence at all that the Greek discussion about plasma was reignited after the International Plasma Congress (IPPC 2025) in Warsaw—a conference organized by the PPTA, that is, the lobby of the largest multinationals trading in plasma-derived medicines… There, the message was made absolutely clear: ‘We need more raw material from Europe,’” wrote Dimitra Vini, Director and scientific head of the Mediterranean Anemia Unit at Nikaia General Hospital, in November 2025. (Source: 902). “This was followed by the SFEE (Association of Pharmaceutical Companies of Greece), which on November 7, 2025, proposed: increased plasma collection, ‘incentive measures’ for donors, and opening the field to the presence of private centers.”

In 2026, the government launched another related attack, this time on EKEA. As Katerina Thoidou, who was then working at EKEA, wrote in Workers’ Solidarity: “The National Blood Donation Centre, the competent public body that oversees the entire blood donation process in Greece, is at risk in the coming period of being unable to perform its duties, as the Ministry of Health appears to be discontinuing its digital connection with the information systems of hospital blood donation departments, in the interests of private IT companies… We have known for some time from published reports that the Ministry of Health has a bill ready that provides for the commodification of blood/plasma, paid blood collection, and its use as a raw material by the pharmaceutical industry in order to increase its profitability. And the public oversight exercised by EKEA over the blood donation chain is an obstacle to these plans…”

Within this framework, one can explain the death of G. Mazonakis as the direct result of a policy of privatization and commodification that puts profits above Health, for which responsibility lies with the Mitsotakis government and the interests it serves. During the same period, another person, a woman, lost her life on a beach in Aegina because, due to cuts and staff shortages, the ambulance from the understaffed Health Centre arrived 55 minutes later.

Capitalists and Health—Literally vampires

“Capital is dead labour which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks… The vampire will not stop as long as there is a muscle, a nerve, a drop of blood that can be exploited.”

Karl Marx wrote this in Capital. As has become clear a century and a half later, the metaphor applies not only to labour but literally to the workers’ own blood, which modern capitalism turns into a commodity.

There is no need to list here the reasons why blood saves lives. Blood plasma and other related derivatives do the same. As the Hellenic Society of Hematology notes:

“Plasmapheresis is performed with specialized machines in a hospital setting, by specialized personnel, in order to treat autoimmune diseases… Unfortunately, in the medical pseudoscience that has proliferated in recent times, plasmapheresis is generally advertised as a mechanism for ‘detoxification,’ ‘wellness’ and ‘longevity.’ None of these claims is supported by clinical studies…”

Global industry

Behind this “medical pseudoscience” lies an entire global industry centered on plasma and profiting from it. In 2023, the United States alone exported a total of $37 billion worth of blood derivatives, approximately 2% of its total exports that year. Along the border with Mexico, poor Mexicans make day trips to the United States in order to collect the $120 paid for each plasma donation.

The global value of the plasma market alone was estimated at approximately $35.8 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $80 billion by 2034. The United States, Germany, Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic together supply 80% of the world’s plasma. They are also the countries that have legalized payment to plasma donors, whose plasma is bought and commercially exploited by domestic and foreign companies. In the United States, donors can give plasma twice a week, with significant negative effects on their health.

As Dimitra Vini writes: “Multinationals need more plasma in order to produce more products. And to ensure a stable supply, they are promoting internationally a model in which collection is carried out by private centers with regular, often paid, donors…

“In the US: 70% of the world’s plasma comes from paid donors… Sociologists describe this as the bioeconomy of the poor—a ‘bio-economy of poverty’…

“The idea of private centers is not simply a ‘new model.’ It is a new ecosystem, governed by market logic, not health… This is how far capitalism has come: blood is being bought and sold in order to generate profit!

“The real question is: Will blood donation in Greece remain public, ethical and voluntary? Or will the body be turned into the raw material of a private market?”