Last August, Athanasios Kontaristhe only qualified doctor in Multidisciplinary regional polyclinic (PPI) sheriff, said “K” that in 2018 he returned to Greece after many years of service in the Swedish health system to work in the health department on the island and organize provision of primary health care. “That’s what I’ve been trying for the past four years without success,” he said characteristically, referring to the tragic understaffing of the island unit and the enormous workload of the clinic’s meager staff.

Nine and a half months later, Mr. Kontaris announced that submitted his resignation from your position general – family doctor curator A’ PPI Serifos, “with a heavy heart, almost forced (outraged), but at the same time with a sense of relief,” as he states in his post.

In a memorandum to Minister of Healthaccompanying his resignation, Mr. Kontaris describes how he was driven to this act. “The residents of Serifos and other small islands are treated like third-class citizens.

“Small islanders are treated like third-class citizens. We are working overtime, which is dangerous for the safety of patients,” says Athanasios Kontaris.

The medical services provided by PPI Serifos are not safe for both residents and visitors to the island, especially during the summer months. The reasons are congestion, increased traffic on the island, as well as understaffing, ”he emphasizes. In another part of the memo, he notes that “during the summer months, we work overtime, illegally, and at grueling hours, to the point where we are a danger to patient safety.”

Mr. Kontaris notes that despite the increase in the number of visitors to the island of Serifos and the consequent increase in the demand for medical services, despite his calls, there has not been a corresponding response to the increase in the staff of the island’s multidisciplinary regional clinic. “The Ministry of Health has never seriously considered the isolation and importance of the Cyclades in any legislation or regulation. In the last announcement in August 2022, most of the medical positions associated with the Cyclades remained unclaimed,” he says.

Mr. Kontaris also criticizes the fact that he has been appointed personal physician, a role he cannot fulfill, especially during the summer months. For him, an important problem is the lack of motivation, as well as the difficulties of life. “Life on such a small island is a huge challenge for a doctor. In addition to objective difficulties and difficulties in making medical decisions (weather, routes), it includes social isolation, desertification, punctuality, difficulties in movement and scientific isolation. I live with my family and work on a small island where there is no: home care program, community nurse, private doctor, pediatrician and kindergarten.

The Municipality of Serifos cannot, in accordance with the law, provide any incentives for a single qualified doctor. The same applies to the South Aegean region, which provides subsidies only to rural and auxiliary doctors. (…) There are no social, economic and scientific incentives for medical scientists who want to work in hard-to-reach and problematic areas, such as the Cyclades.”

He concludes by emphasizing that “in terms of brain drain, the NHS is by no means a magnet for Greek doctors who have gone abroad.”