In the vortex of “Omicron” are the health units of the NSS. According to public hospital staff estimates, at least 2,000 NSS health workers are in quarantine because they have been infected with the virus. The authorities estimate that, at least for the time being, the situation is manageable, with the new instructions for the quarantine time helping to quickly return the medical staff to their positions.
As the governor of the 1st Health District of Attica, Panagiotis Stathis, noted in “K”, at the moment the percentage of absences of medical and other staff due to COVID-19 ranges from 1.4% to 2.2% of the total number of employees per unit. “The situation is manageable. The problem is not as acute as it seems “, points out Mr. Stathis. “We are seeing how the situation is evolving and if necessary, there will be internal folds of the units, with staff movements between departments or the suspension of surgeries. In the fourth wave, the hospitals in Athens did not need to suspend regular surgeries and I estimate that it will not need to be done now “, says the commander of the 1st RAE. According to him, the new instructions that have been in force for a few days now regarding the quarantine of the medical staff give more flexibility to deal with this problem as well. According to them, the quarantine time for the nursing staff with COVID-19 is now five days and the return to work is done even without a negative test, if they are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. In addition, no quarantine is required for nursing staff who have simply been exposed to the virus (case contact).
The stay at home for COVID-19 medical staff is now five days.
Already, due to these new instructions, at the Evangelismos hospital, out of the 92 staff members who were in quarantine on Monday, 35 returned to their service yesterday. “We are talking about 92 people in quarantine out of a total of 3,500 employees at the hospital. “Some people returned today, but tomorrow they may be in quarantine again”, the director of the nursing service of Evangelismos Hospital, Dimitris Pistolas, points out to “K” and emphasizes: “We have had worse. Last year at such a time the problem was more acute. But the data were different. The quarantine then lasted 14 days, we did not have vaccinated staff, a different strain of the virus was circulating and we did not know what we know today about the treatment of the disease “.
According to POEDIN, it is currently estimated that at least 2,000 health workers are absent from hospitals due to coronavirus disease, of which about 520 are from hospitals in Attica (excluding Piraeus). And in fact at a time when on the one hand 7,000 people are absent from the system due to work suspension and 2,000 who retired at the end of 2021, and on the other hand the attendance at hospitals has increased. The president of POEDIN, Michalis Giannakos, speaking to “K” characterizes the reduction of the quarantine time and the return to work even with mild symptoms, claiming that this can lead to the spread of the virus. “We also consider it wrong to predict that those who came in contact with the virus will not be quarantined, especially at a time when there are delays in laboratory tests. We also insist that preventive checks should be made on all hospital staff at least once a week. “
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