( CNN ) -- Greece is being asked to make `` great sacrifices '' but the country 's sick will not suffer from a lack of medical help , health minister Andreas Likourentzos says . His comments come as cancer patients protest against health care reforms they say are cutting them off from expensive but life-saving drugs . Likourentzos , of the New Democracy party , told CNN : `` We need to cut down the expenses but these cuts will not negatively affect those who need direct access to healthcare services . '' Greece spends 11 billion euros ( $ 14.4 billion ) annually on its healthcare system -- taking up 5.5 % of the country 's total economic output . Likourentzos said the healthcare system is 2 billion euros [ $ 2.6 billion ] in debt . The country needs to cut the sector 's expenses back from 3.7 billion euros [ $ 4.8 billion ] last year to 2.9 billion euros [ $ 3.7 billion ] this year , he said . The cuts are due to be made as Greece , at the center of the eurozone 's financial crisis , comes under intense pressure from both its international lenders and suppliers to its health care system . `` What the pharmacists say is true . We owe money to the pharmacists , the pharmaceutical companies and generally all the suppliers of the national health system , '' he said . The healthcare service cuts are part of broader austerity plans Greece must push through -- including cuts of 11.5 billion euros [ $ 15 billion ] -- if it is to receive its next tranche of bailout cash . The Troika -- a group of auditors made up of the International Monetary Fund , the European Central Bank and the European Union -- is in Greece to assess the progress of the country 's austerity program and reforms to public finances . The group is due to produce its report at the end of September .
Likourentzos said the healthcare system is 2 billion euros [ $ 2.6 billion ] in debt . The Greek government has been trying to cut spending and raise taxes since it took over from a previous administration that was elected on promises of austerity but failed to deliver it.