A fierce attack was launched on the Ministry of Health and the administration of the Children’s Hospital Alexis Tsipras who visited the Children’s Hospital”Saint Sophie Cathedralabout what he says is a “shocking” situation created by a shortage of anesthesiologists, with over 3,000 children awaiting surgery.

“In the largest children’s hospital in the country, regular operations are not performed throughout September, and we do not know when they will resume. This creates very serious public health risks for hundreds of children and hundreds of families, 3,000 families, because that’s how many children are on the waiting list for a solution in private hospitals. This problem did not arise out of nowhere. This has been known for a very long time and is the result of a systematic abandonment of the national health care system,” the President of SYRIZA-PS said immediately after meeting with the hospital management and discussing with workers’ representatives. .

“In 2019, 16 anesthesiologists were on duty at the largest children’s hospital in the country, 11 of them were permanent and 5 were auxiliary. Today there are only 10 of them, which clearly does not cope with the requirements. With the onset of the pandemic, the number of operations began to decrease by almost 75%, and patients began to accumulate, ”he characteristically said, accusing the government of not taking care, knowing about the large shortage of anesthesiologists, to move in time so that it could be mobilized.”

“I repeat in the largest children’s hospital in the country. And it’s a punch in the gut. Another blow to the dignity of Greek society. “Thousands of children in the largest children’s hospital cannot be operated on for cases requiring surgical intervention, ordinary operations are not performed,” he stressed.

Continuing Al. Tsipras opined that “the solution to the problem cannot be solved by magical means, but there must be another plan.” “Another comprehensive plan to address the obsolescence and degradation of the NHS. With strong incentives for doctors, for critical specialties, higher salaries, recruitment.”

“But there is a question. Is the government interested in how to solve the pressing problem? Or was the answer given by the leadership of the Ministry of Health “let them go to private hospitals”? If the mobilization of health workers did not take place, would there be any interest in solving the problem at all?”, He noted, speaking of “huge responsibility”, “both to the government as a whole, and to the leadership of the Ministry of Health and the hospital administration.”

“They have to take responsibility. It is unthinkable that in 2022 Greek society will face such problems. It is unthinkable to send hundreds of children for surgery in private hospitals at a time when the economic crisis is haunting every Greek family,” the President of SYRIZA-PS emphasized and concluded:

“Therefore, in our opinion, the immediate treatment of the problem can only be solved by attracting specialist anesthesiologists with experience in working with infants, even from private clinics. Not support for clients of private hospitals, but support for the largest children’s public hospital in the country, even by private doctors, when public need dictates.

Earlier, at a meeting of the President of SYRIZA-PS with the administration of the children’s hospital, he harshly criticized both the attitude of the Ministry of Health and the administration itself, describing the situation with the queues as “shocking” 3,000 children for surgery.

In particular, he complained that the Ministry of Health was mobilized after the fact and only after the health workers themselves first raised the issue with their mobilizations and announced that they would announce the positions of anesthesiologists as a matter of priority. He noted, however, that everyone knows that this takes time. “They said at a meeting at the ministry, after the paramedics first raised the issue of their mobilizations, that some anesthesiologists would be transferred from other public hospitals. The question arises: do we have an excess of anesthesiologists in some public hospitals,” Mr Tsipras asked.

Addressing the administration of the “Children’s Cathedral of Hagia Sophia”, Alexis Tsipras emphasized: “Each anesthesiologist is different when working with an adult and when working with a child. Anesthesiologists with special experience working with infants and young children are needed. Where are they in other hospitals and we don’t know? If we don’t baptize them.”

In this context, he emphasized that “in order to immediately solve the problem now, instead of thinking about how to send children to private hospitals with huge contracts in favor of private individuals, we should think the other way around. How will we order doctors with experience from private hospitals to come to the state Children’s Hospital, which is the largest in the country, so that it can function.” He added that “this is not a matter of political confrontation.”

“For the largest children’s hospital in the country not to perform operations is a blow to the stomach and the dignity of society. 3,000 children who need to be operated on do not have access to the operating room,” concluded Mr. Tsipras.