Thessaloniki: Ippokrateio will not participate in the afternoon surgeries – 2024-03-14 21:58:28

Employees of the surgical field express their intention not to participate in the afternoon surgeries “Hippocrate” Hospitalin Thessaloniki.

The workers speak of already excruciating shifts and point out that they are working at their limits, with the consequence that they pose risks both to themselves and to the patients undergoing surgery.

It is noted that the administrators of five hospitals have declared an inability to respond to the afternoon surgeries due to a lack of staff. These are the general hospitals of Argos, Agios Nikolaos, Ierapetra, Kozani and Lakonia

On Wednesday morning, the president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees, Michalis Giannakos, visited the surgical field of the “Empire”, with the staff describing to him the problems they are facing.

“Hospitals are turning into supermarkets selling health services”

Speaking to journalists, Mr. Giannakos called yesterday, when the afternoon surgeries began, “a sad day for the NHS”. “Unfortunately, since yesterday, hospitals are turning into supermarkets selling paid health services, with a specific price list. We don’t want such a National Health System, we want a NHS that will offer free services with equal access”, said the president of POEDIN.

“Instead of apologizing to citizens who wait 4 and 5 years to have surgery, we told them you have to pay to have surgery. And the minister may have said afterwards that yesterday the surgeries were free, but today they will not be. We don’t know when the Recovery Fund will be ready”, Mr. Giannakos also underlined while referring to the start of the afternoon surgeries yesterday at the “Papageorgiou” hospital, in Thessaloniki, he said that “ridiculous things happened”.

Administrators of five hospitals said they were unable to respond to afternoon surgeries due to staff shortages. These are the general hospitals of Argos, Agios Nikolaos, Ierapetra, Kozani and Lakonia.

“It is impossible for the Hippocrates to participate in the afternoon surgeries, in the situation that prevails at the moment with leaves that we owe to the staff from 2022. What employee would accept to be owed leaves from 2022 and continue to work?” he said between among others, the president of the Workers’ Union in Hippocrates, Giorgos Dontsios.

“The children are turning their backs, turning their backs on the transplants from living donors that started a week ago. It is the people who from morning to night with self-sacrifice work inside and we have come to look picturesque for constantly protesting,” he added.