AHEPA: Nurse died while on duty – His colleague found him dead

A tragic event unfolded on Tuesday night (19/7), at the University Hospital of Thessaloniki AHEPA, when a nurse, during her shift change, found in the Emergency Department, a 51-year-old colleague of hers was killed.

According to information from GRTimes, on Tuesday – day of general duty at the ACHEPA hospital – at 8:30 in the evening, the 51-year-old nurse, who was employed as an angiograph operator, retired to the area where the staff rests during break hours, as he felt unwell .

The tragedy unfolded about two and a half hours later (between 10 and 10:30), when his colleague arrived at the site to start her shift. The unfortunate man had already breathed his last helplessly inside the hospital, lying dead for hours until his colleagues noticed him.

As a hospital employee reports to GRTimes, the door of the room had to be breached in order to receive the 51-year-old and to establish his death, while according to the same information, he had a history of heart disease and this may have cost him his life.

Nursing shortages and poor working conditions – ‘He was alone on shift’

The sad incident is inextricably linked to the serious shortages recorded in nursing staff, while an important factor is the exhaustion of the workers from the burden of the pandemic. At the same time, the staff face difficult conditions, as they do not take their accrued days off to go off shifts, while for the last 2.5 years the days of summer leave have been minimal.

The nurse who identified the unfortunate 51-year-old, speaking to GRTimes, says that “the man was unwell, had discomfort and had a cardiogram done on the same day, but he could not afford not to work, as there is no other colleague to replace him. He is alone in every shift, alone, under extremely difficult conditions and with the anxiety that if something happens to him he cannot be missed or worse that no one can help him if he needs help. We are talking about a man who has been working as a nurse for 30 years.”

Then the nurse added that “hospitals are understaffed, there are no new staff, we are old, having faced difficult situations with the pandemic in recent years. Licenses are often suspended because we don’t have people to work. This particular colleague apparently did not want to return an employee from leave in order to be absent himself, prioritizing his health. At the same time, the position he was working on was specialized and there are no workers to fill it. All this proves to us that there is no welfare state and the National Health System is the last priority. You work for 30 years in the most difficult field and you can’t get a leave.”

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