He had the opportunity to communicate with the administration, doctors, nurses and hospital staff. Alexis Tsipras during today’s visit to Penteli Children’s Hospital. In conversations with hospital staff, the President of SYRIZA had the impression that “the situation is tragic in terms of lack of staff, wages and infrastructure.”

According to party sources, Alexis Tsipras referred to the tragic case of the death of a 6-year-old child from Grevena, noting that “it cannot be that there are no intensive care units in all of Northern Greece, and they are forced to transfer the child to Rio.” He emphasized that “Health is a good, which is a criterion for the quality of life in every society. This is not a product. We have reached the point where anyone who can afford it will have better health care.”

Mr Tsipras stressed that the SYRIZA government supported ESY despite the limitations of the memorandum, saying “we have turned hospitals from a deficit to a surplus.” “We abolished – at that time a conflict with the Troika – paid admission to polyclinics and made it possible for everyone to receive treatment, regardless of whether they are aware of taxes or not. We found a 1:5 hiring/firing rule and tweaked it to 1:1,” he said.

Criticizing the Mitsotakis government, Mr Tsipras spoke of “a conscious choice to discredit the national social security system”, saying that “although the period of the memoranda has ended and important economic and fiscal opportunities have opened up, with debt management and appropriate, the government is now in a position to decide and establish its own priorities, while European conditions are more favorable, the government has not strengthened hospitals, doctors’ and nurses’ salaries.”

“He limited himself to applause and at the same time made a choice in favor of supporting private hospitals and recently introduced a bill to privatize the NHS,” he commented. Referring then to SYRIZA’s proposals, he noted that “health spending needs to be increased” because “you can’t get a health care upgrade when spending is cut.” “Greece is behind the European average of 7%. Therefore, every year for the next four years, it is necessary to increase the budget for healthcare,” he stressed.

He also cited the “huge problem” of a shortage of doctors and specific specialties. “They don’t want to come, we hear them talking. They don’t want to, because the conditions are extremely unfavorable,” Mr. Tsipras commented and stressed that “a newly appointed doctor should receive a salary of 2,000 euros, and the doctor’s salary should come from a single salary, and special benefits are provided. needed for those who are in the structures of the region.”

According to the same sources, a hospital worker said that “there is a feeling of discrediting the NHS and our hospital”, adding that “at the moment the hospital covers 20% of the attendance of children in general and still does not receive adequate resources. . Permanent staff positions are not advertised, only support staff. You don’t set up SSY with only assistive devices.” He said that “out of 158 beds, we have about 50 active beds. So we will always have 30%.” “The situation is tragic,” the nurse said, noting that “it’s ridiculous that we are applauding while no one thinks about the staff who work many days in the morning and evening, for a total of 16 hours.” “I am alone with 40 children,” she said, describing the situation. The doctor commented that “there are few vacancies for anesthesiologists advertised”, and about problems with infrastructure, he said that the hospital does not actually have an intensive care unit, but there is an “old operating room that does not have the necessary tools.” “These are tragic things,” he commented.

As for the salary, the nurse commented that “since 2010 our car has been stolen and now they gave us a tire”, adding that “the government has canceled only one solidarity fundraiser, the cheapest one. The salary of nurses remains unacceptably low, so it needs to be increased, as well as pay on call.” He added that “there is currently a wave of layoffs in the National Health Service due to unacceptable conditions.”

Following the visit, Alexis Tsipras issued the following statement: “The country is going through a protracted public health crisis due to the choice of the Mitsotakis government. We are facing a resurgence of the health crisis and the national health system is probably in the worst moment of all previous years, forever. We have postponed many operations, many clinics do not work, hundreds of patients are on waiting lists. There are especially many traffic jams in children’s structures. At the same time, there is an acute shortage of medicines. So the situation is tragic and the responsibility is very great. The Mitsotakis government led to the dissolution of the National Health System through its discrediting, through its privatization, through policies that leave room only for profit, for speculation. A government that doesn’t care about health care is a government that doesn’t care about welfare. A strong public health system is the answer, which is about both social security and social justice. We will fight for this, this is what we owe to Greek women and men.”

^{Source: RES-IPE}