At the University Hospital of Heraklion two children who swallowed foreign bodies were transferred in the early hours of Wednesday.

According to creta24, one child, 2.5 years old, was transferred from Rethymnon, as swallowed whistle ball. The second, 2 years old, initially went to Venizelio and then to PAGNI, although he was not pastor. He swallowed wood from a skewer which lodged in his hypopharynx.

Both children underwent surgery.

The director of the otolaryngology clinic of PAGNI, Manolis Prokopakis, made a post on Facebook stating:

“Thoughts: Time 02.30. After midnight. Two children bundled up, with foreign bodies are urgently transported to PAGNI. At the same time.

A two and a half year old from Rethymno with reported inhalation of a ball from a whistle (!!!) into the bronchi.

The other, two years old from Venizelio, with reported ingestion of wood from a skewer in the hypopharynx.

Two surgeries that I believe will go well.

The detail here is that the University Hospital is NOT on call!!! And this has been happening for years now. I too, while I was in surgery all morning today, am urgently called upon to handle these very special cases.

How long will I be a robot? Not only me, but all of us here at the ENT clinic of PAGNI. We return home and our gaze is wild, without wanting it. If the rest of Crete’s hospitals cannot handle these emergencies, very well, give us the staff to do them properly and appropriately. To be on duty regularly and orderly 365 days a year. Proficient in doctors and nurses. And if the rest of the Cretan hospitals cannot offer emergency anesthesia to children, they should be immediately prohibited from operating on children in general. The pathogenesis of the system is very old. It is not enough just to have a good administration at PAGNI and the DYPE, which fortunately we have. The change must be central and radical.”