This year, “descents” to the islands and remote continental destinations are also being prepared. students from medical schools countries. OUR Scientific Society of Medical Students of Greece invites medical students to register for the program Medical statementheld for the 27th year in a row and is both educational and voluntary: medical students, provided that they have completed the 4th year of study and therefore have relevant experience in clinical courses, can combine vacations with volunteer work at the center , a district polyclinic or even a district hospital, where they will have the opportunity to find out in real conditions what the doctors of these units are facing.

“In recent years, the program has taken on a different tone, and those who participate have more of the logic of “let’s go help” than “let’s go to study and also relax.” The feeling of volunteering is more intense. In many cases, the participants do not observe the time of 9 am. until 2:00 pm, which is their duty, but they also remain on duty. Maybe it’s a “doctor’s microbe” Frini Avgerinopoulou points to “K”., vice-president of the Athens branch of the Scientific Society of Medical Students of Greece, who, together with Elpida Strati (section secretary), is coordinating this year’s medical trip. Last year, as part of the program, she visited the Bostanio Hospital on the island of Lesvos. According to him, “the doctors asked us, ‘Aren’t you going to take a bath?’ Are you going to drink?” We told them, “No. We like it here.” He adds: “The incidents were interesting and it was important to see how the staff worked. These people are there, rain or snow. This is for residents, this is for visitors. It’s for an old man, for a child with appendicitis, for a hiker with a fracture. This is for all of us.”

For this year’s program, interested physicians can start applying (www.eefie.org/apovasis/) from tomorrow May 24 through June 6. The program will last five decades from July 23 to September 10. Last year, the number of applications exceeded 1000. They selected 404 students who spent ten days of vacation in some medical facility on an island or remote mainland. In total last year there were 49 destinations –NHS Health Units who responded positively to the corresponding proposal for inclusion in the program – with the possibility of free accommodation.

Including destinations where free accommodation has not been provided, the number of participating units has exceeded 100. This year, 48 destinations with accommodation have been provided to date (over 100 in total) and the number is expected to increase. In addition, as emphasized by Ms. Avgerinopoulou, “there is already an opportunity to join our health department program, if you wish.”

The participating medical institutions represent almost the entire country, with the exception of Attica and Thessaloniki, with the interests of students being distributed between the island and mainland regions. According to Evangelinos Michelis in “K”., President of the Scientific Society of Medical Students of Greece, coordinator of the Medical Expedition 2022, “Last year we also managed to get to Kastelorizo. The reception was very warm at the polygyne Megistis district polyclinic. It was both a duty and an honor for us to be there. There are very few funds on the island. We felt like we helped a little. Even two students, that’s four hands more.”

Last year it was in the decade from 10 to 20 August. Areopolis Health Center. “It was a very important experience. For the first time, we came into contact with a different environment, very different from the hospital, where we conduct clinical courses in groups. In fact, what we have been working on, hearing and imagining since the first year of school, we have seen on practice,” says Mr. Michelis, adding: “We have seen how the transfer is done. How family medicine is its mainstay First aid. And as primary health care is the backbone of the health system, starting with prevention. How can a primary care physician immediately diagnose a patient, knowing him and his history?

During his ten-day “stay” at the Areopolis Medical Center, Mr. Mikelis did not have to face any major incidents. “Mostly common pathology. But we saw people from different countries and understood what it is like to communicate with patients who do not speak your language or know English very well. What impressed me personally was that a gentleman who had had polio in his youth came and we saw his X-ray. Now that vaccines have virtually wiped out the disease, it’s extremely rare to see something like this.” The program is also the first contact for students with what they will encounter as rural physicians.

“Whoever wants to work in the NSS must serve in the field, which requires knowledge and, above all, experience, which is difficult to acquire if you do not do it yourself. By participating in the program, you see the main pathologies that you will definitely find in front of you and for which you must be prepared or have practical skills. And it’s not at all a fact that you will have them, just at the end of school.