Last Wednesday was a difficult day for his staff Multidisciplinary Regional Clinic Serifos. He had to deal with three very serious incidents that required three helicopter airlifts. At a time when tourism is at its peak and the number of visitors and residents has reached 12,000, one specialist doctor and two rural doctors are forced to attend to ordinary cases from Monday to Friday from 8 am to 3 pm and be on duty every day. without days off and generally without the possibility of rest in order to cope with the needs of the population.

The situation is similar in the vast majority of health care facilities on the small islands of the Aegean. This is evidenced by studies planned and conducted by doctors of the multidisciplinary regional clinic “Serifos”, Athanasios Kontaris (general practitioner, scientific supervisor of the Clinic), Catherine Karavoulias as well as Meropi Galaris (farmers) and medical student M.Anos Zavaliswho volunteers to help out at the clinic, trying to record the hardships other islands face. And as said Mr. Kontaris “K”.“We talked to colleagues and got scared.”

group study

The research team contacted their colleagues by phone on 26 of the 28 islands, where their only healthcare facility is the PPI, a multidisciplinary regional clinic. From their answers, it turned out that in 13 departments there is only one doctor who automatically makes 30 calls per month. In the remaining 13 departments, two doctors call (15 in each). Ten departments do not have a nurse. Only seven UFOs have a qualified doctor; the rest work with rural doctors. In only one practice, doctors take the days off to which they are entitled under the current institutional structure. When asked if they made medical errors due to malnutrition, doctors from 14 health posts in the small Aegean islands responded positively.

On 13 of the 28 islands, where the only health care facility is the Multidisciplinary Regional Polyclinic, 30 visits per month are carried out by one health worker.

Disappointment

We asked Mr. Kontaris what prompted them to do the research. According to him, “the study was the result of disappointment.” He studied medicine in Patras, received his agricultural education in Serifos and specialized in family/general medicine in Sweden. He worked there for five years before deciding to return to Greece to work in the health department on the island and organize primary health care.

“This is what I have tried unsuccessfully for the last four years,” notes Mr. Kontaris, and explains: “The effort is to correct as much as possible the injustice faced by the inhabitants of the small Cyclades in their access to health care. . For example, a patient with a heart attack in Serifos will be in touch with a cardiologist 18-20 hours after the heart attack. I couldn’t because of lack of staff and because of the very high traffic on the island. It is one thing to take care of 1,250 residents, and another to take care of 12,000 people – residents and visitors – in the summer. If in the winter the locals are at a disadvantage compared to the Athenians in terms of caring for them, then in the summer the situation worsens, as with the same medical staff we are called in to treat more cases.”

The medical staff of Serifos Multifunctional Regional Clinic sent a letter ten days ago to the Ministry of Health and the 2nd Health Region of Piraeus and the Aegean, in which they inform about overtime and abnormally excessive calls, as well as security risks. patients that arise due to their own fatigue. Last Friday and all weekend they were on strike. “Virtual because we had to deal with all the incidents,” explains Mr. Kontaris, adding that “the goal was to get our voice to the ears of those in charge. And it came.” After a telephone conversation with the commander of the Ministry of Health, a nurse will move to the clinic next week, and a doctor will move to the clinic in two weeks, who will stay on the island for a month.

“The Cyclades, and especially the smaller Cyclades, should finally be regarded as a separate entity. It is very difficult for a doctor to decide to serve on the island. I’m having trouble finding a house to live in. I have a small child and there is no daycare to leave him when my wife and I are supposed to be at work. Staying here is very difficult. It’s against the weather, it can be blocked in winter, life is more expensive, and there are health problems,” notes Mr. Contaros and emphasizes, “Incentives for doctors should be reconsidered. A discussion should be opened about tax breaks, higher salaries, reduction of bureaucracy, residency for doctors.

Irregular shifts and overtime

“Unfortunately, we are called on every day to be on duty illegally with grueling hours, not being paid, and being exposed to potential medical errors that we consider extremely dangerous for the safety of patients and ours,” they emphasize in a recent letter to the Minister of Health. , Commander of the 2nd Health Department and Prosecutor of the Service of the Prefecture of the Cyclades, doctors of the General Regional Clinic of Sheriff Athanasios Kontaris, Aikaterini Karavoulias and Meropi Galaris. According to the current institutional framework, the weekly work schedule cannot exceed 48 hours. “Do the Ministry of Health, the legal department of the Ministry of Health and the prosecutor’s office know about the violations? Are we legally insured against any medical error? ask the PPI Serifos doctors, who say that now they will only “in order” do irregular shifts and go beyond working hours.