“After 26 years at the hospital, I submitted my resignation letter to the governor 10 days ago and am waiting for the exit procedures to begin. I can no longer be a doctor 24/7. My work is no longer safe for me or for young doctors studying medicine, and certainly not for children“. Among many others, the otorhinolaryngologist notes these Giannis Psarommatissupervisor and scientific director of the ENT clinic “Aglai Kiriakou”.

Mr. Psarommatis describes how for the last year he was left alone in his department, with three young doctors, heads – B. “And it’s not just that the work is not coming out. How will young doctors be trained in practice, when operations are performed rarely and with soul on their teeth because of marginal, from the point of view of safety, operation? he wonders.

Up to two years of waiting in normal operations

According to employees of one of the two largest children’s hospitals in the country, the situation has become catastrophic due to a shortage of personnel.

OUR Nicoleta MastrantonakiPediatrician-observer A’ in the pathoanatomical dispensary B’ Aglaya Kiriakova, in turn, describes the current difficult situation. “Conventional surgeries are scheduled 8 and 10 months after diagnosis, even two years later. And in polyclinics, however, we do not serve children properly.”

She emphasizes that a long delay in regular operations can cause serious problems in the quality of a child’s daily life. He even gives an example: “You have a child with meatballs who is scheduled for surgery in a year. As he waits, they threaten him and often end up harming him from ear infections to abscesses. Meatballs can cause serious complications.”

At the same time, according to the paediatrician, understaffing leads to a delay in handling emergencies at the proper time. “Emergency appendectomy delays hospitalization by 2-3 days or fracture by 3-6 days. As a result, the number of days children are hospitalized is increasing,” concludes Ms. Mastrantonaki.

Numbers

OUR George Serbosa cardiologist at the Children’s Hospital and vice president of the local workers’ union, reports the number of transactions performed decreased from 6,000 in 2018 to 3,500 in 2022..

“If we go back even further, in 2013 we performed over 7,000 surgeries with 35 physicians and 15 anesthesiologists,” he describes, and continues: “Currently there are 19 operating room nurses, 6 traumatologists and 1 ward – 2020, there were 25 nurses, 7 paramedics and 2 paramedics in this department. To meet the needs of operating rooms – general pediatric surgery, orthopedics, otorhinolaryngology, ophthalmology, maxillofacial surgery and neurosurgery – we employ 11 nurse anesthesiologists, in 2018 there were 17. Anesthesiologists – 10. Until 2016, there were 15″. .

“And while both the 1st Ministry of Health and the hospital administration have long been aware of the problems, all that is being done is to cover up the gaps with “patches”, transferring and redeploying personnel or even ordering an operation with only one nurse.”

As a result, according to Mr Serbos, only three of the eight fully equipped operating theaters are currently operational. “In the cardiology department of the hospital, at the end of 2022, two heads quit, one with retirement, the other with dismissal. We have two permanent doctors who are assisted by a seconded cardiologist from the Hagia Sophia Nursery and a seconded cardiologist, on call only, who comes from Janeyo. All physicians put in superhuman effort to cope with the 24-hour duty in the operating room with our physical and mental exhaustion being the norm.”

Medical workers strike

Due to situations like the one described above, Aglaia Kyriakou employees mobilized at the hospital gate on Tuesday, and by decision of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Workers, medical workers went on strike today Wednesday from 08:00 to 15:00. 00:00 in Attica and a 24-hour strike in the area. The Medical Association of the Hospitals of Athens and Piraeus is also on strike.

Health worker associations speak of public hospitals operating marginally due to staffing shortages, mass layoffs of healthcare workers, and job postings that remain ‘barren’ – mostly in the region – at the same time that thousands of full-time positions are vacant . .