A little twenty-four hours after the strong protest expressed by the Agrinio Medical Association, the Etoloakarnania Hospital Physicians Association issued a statement regarding the doctors who served between 2018-2021 at the Agrinio Hospital and are accused (200 in number) of breach of duty.

On 11/1/24, a trial was scheduled at the Three-member Criminal Court of Agrini regarding the non-electronic prescribing of the referral exams in Emergency department.

“If we had refused to provide services to patients due to the shortcomings and in particular the system that would allow the electronic referral, we would have endangered the health and even the lives of the patients. We would be accused again”, emphasizes the announcement of the Hospital Doctors.

“If the Commanders think that in this way they will intimidate us, we assure them that their efforts will fall in vain. We will continue to fight and claim, to highlight their problems and responsibilities, which with their politics have brought the country’s Hospitals and ours to the brink of collapse”, they add.

The announcement:

“200 DOCTORS WHO SERVED AT AGRINIOU GN FROM 8/2018 TO 1/2021 ARE ACCUSED OF BREACH OF DUTIES, WITH THE PURPOSE TO DAMAGE THE STATE AND SPECIFICALLY AGRINIOU GN AND TO DEFY N TO OTHERS ILLEGAL BENEFIT, BECAUSE THEY WERE PRESCRIBING MANUSCRIPTS AND NO ELECTRONIC REFERRALS TO THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT!

We will live this too! All the doctors of G.N. Agriniou violated their official duty, in order to damage it. This is the category. They will be tried on 11.01.2024 at the Three-member Criminal Court of Agrini.

After the public complaints of the former Governor Mr. Michalis on the day of his dismissal by the then SYRIZA government, among other things, for the non-electronic prescription of referral tests in the Emergency Department and the possible loss of the Hospital’s income from the insurance funds for the period under review from 8/2018 to 1/2021, a public prosecutor’s investigation was carried out “to investigate the offenses of infidelity (390 PK), in other words breach of duty (259 PK)”. This concerns a total of approximately 200 doctors who served in the Emergency Department during the above period.

An audit was then carried out by the Body of Inspectors of Welfare Health Services (SEYYP) as well as by the Hellenic Transparency Authority where in their conclusive reports they described the inadequacies, the lack of: infrastructure, equipment, information systems, interconnection of departments and clinics with laboratories, the highly understaffed Organization and IT Department, the absence of secretarial support on a 24-hour basis in the TEPs, the non-existence and operation of an independent and autonomous TEP, the significant medical understaffing of qualified doctors, the almost total lack of qualified doctors, etc.

A Sworn Administrative Examination was ordered by the 6th Ministry, which was undertaken by the Governor of GN “Hatzikostas” Mr. Derdemezis in his conclusion

  • although all those who served as Governors during the period under review, even Mr. Michalis himself, admitted in their depositions that not all conditions had been met for the implementation of the electronic prescribing of referrals in the TEP by January 2021,
  • although the conclusive reports of SEVYP and the Hellenic Transparency Authority clearly depicted the shortcomings and inadequacies that made electronic prescribing in the TEP inapplicable,
  • despite the fact that there was also a thorough deposition with a lot of information and documents by the Director of the Medical Service at the time, which proved that the conditions had not been met for the electronic prescription of referrals to be implemented in the TEP,
  • although the doctors (Directors of Sectors, Departments, etc.) who were summoned also testified the same,
  • even though there was NOWHERE neither in the conclusive reports of the SEYYP and the Hellenic Transparency Authority, nor in any testimony, that the doctors refuse to implement the electronic prescribing of referral tests at the TEP, on the contrary, it was requested that the conditions be fulfilled under the sole responsibility of the Administration,
  • despite all of the above, Mr. Derdemezis, taking it for granted that there was the possibility of electronic prescription of the referral exams at the TEP, without specifically documenting it, concludes unfairly and without proving it in our opinion, to TRANSFER the responsibilities and inadequacies of the Administration for the non-implementation of electronic prescribing and the loss of income from the insurance funds, through diffusion, to all DOCTORS and the Director of the Medical Service as final recipients, reversing the data.

It’s INCREDIBLE, it’s INSANE!

This is the “recognition” of the offer to the colleagues by all the Managers; To be dragged into the Courts and prosecuted based on their own damning findings, covering up their own inadequacies?

Which doctors? The doctors of the Hospital and the KY who all these years have turned their backs, work incessantly, with overtime, “on assignment” and transfers, each doctor doing the work that corresponds to 3, due to extreme understaffing, below the minimum safety limit, almost all departments of the Hospital in order to stay open and functioning;
Which doctors? To those for whom any concept of labor and scientific recognition, development and dignity has been lost long ago due to their policies;
And for which category? Here we are not accused of abandoning a patient, of refusing to examine a patient, of not being at our post. We are accused of not issuing electronic exam referrals from …. non-existent conditions, facilities, mechanical and informational equipment, etc., and instead we issued handwritten referrals, directly dealing with multiple trauma, heart attack, stroke, allergic shock, respiratory failure coke!

The paradox in the case is that the competent Deputy Prosecutor of First Instance with her order 333/07.08.2023 decided “that there are no sufficient indications for prosecution and therefore” put “the case in question on file”. She fully justified her judgment with all that she recorded in her order.

The Deputy Prosecutor of Appeals, to whom the order was submitted, ruled that “there are sufficient indications of the commission of the offense (…) for the misdemeanor act of breach of duty”. No matter how one reads it with a.p. 716/16.08.2023 provision of it, will not find an element of justification for his admission that “sufficient indications arise”. She, however, ordered the Deputy Prosecutor of First Instance to act “upon decision on whether to refer (us) or not” to the audience. The result was that we were referred even though the Deputy Prosecutor of First Instance had judged with full justification “that there are no sufficient indications of criminal prosecution” and that is why she put the case on file.

As doctors we perform our duty based on the rules of medicine. Our “crime,” according to the indictment, is that laboratory tests for hospital patients were ordered by hand rather than electronically. We did this in order to “damage” the hospital, since EOPYY reimburses tests that were only ordered electronically.

For the electronic prescription with the 333/07.08.2023 order of the Deputy Prosecutor of First Instance, the following were accepted: “From the total of N.M. which fall under the 6th Ministry of Health, the electronic prescription of paraclinical examinations at the TEP operated 24 hours a day only in 6 hospitals (University of Patras and Ioannina, Children’s Hospital of Patras “Karamandaneio” etc.), in 4 Hospitals it operated until 11:00 PM and in the remaining 17 hospitals , among which N.M. Agriniou, the referral of laboratory tests was still done with handwritten referrals. The reason for the delay (…) is a) the non-functioning of an independent department of organization and IT with appropriate management staff, b) lack of administrative staff in the TEPs to undertake the task of electronic prescribing as the TEP doctor, who, due to ( …) understaffing covers more positions and serves more patients than those assigned to him, he does not have the required time to carry out electronic prescriptions, c) non-operation of an independent and autonomous TEP with its own organizational structure and staff, d) general understaffing of the N. M. Agriniu”.

Nevertheless, we were referred to trial for dereliction of duty. If we had refused to provide services to the patients because of the shortcomings and in particular the system that would allow the electronic referral, we would have put the health and even the lives of the patients at risk. We would be accused again.

On the day of the trial on 11.01.2024, all doctors will be in court. The hospital will not operate. Let the authorities ensure that the patients are hospitalized. A new group of colleagues follows, who will be referred for the same crime. A preliminary examination is being conducted against them by the Magistrate of Agrinio following a prosecutor’s order.

Cheers to the audience. Until then, all the accused will continue to be real doctors, they will provide their medical services responsibly, without being affected by their anger, indignation, bitterness. The trust of the patients is not going to be denied by the doctors, however, we repeat their bitterness.

If the Administrators think that in this way they will intimidate us, we assure them that their efforts will fall in vain. We will continue to fight and claim, to highlight their problems and responsibilities, which with their politics have brought the country’s Hospitals and ours to the brink of collapse.

  • WE INVITE ALL COLLEAGUES TO A GENERAL MEETING ON WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 15 AT 11:00 AM IN THE HOSPITAL AMPHITHEATER.
  • THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF EINAA IS PROMOTING A CONVENIENT WORKING STANDARDS FROM 11:00 AM UNTIL THE END OF HOURS ON THE SAME DAY.
  • WE CALL ALL EMPLOYEES, LABOR AND SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS, ASSOCIATIONS, etc. IN SUPPORT AND SUPPORT AGAINST THE UNJUST CHARGE THAT EXISTED