Today will be Tuesday the first five surgeries in the NHS, outside morning hours, starting from two large hospitals of the co-capital, where the longest waits are recorded.

The first operation at the General Hospital of Thessaloniki “Papageorgiou” -where a total of four will be held today- will take place at 16:00 and at the University General Hospital of Thessaloniki “ACHEPA” at 17:00. The first afternoon surgeries will be attended by the Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis and the Deputy Minister, Marios Themistokleous.

“They are people who rushed to take advantage of the possibility of the afternoon surgeries, because they expect to be operated on from 2020,” said Adonis Georgiadis, speaking to SKAI.

At the “Papageorgiou” hospital they will be served for a fee outside of morning hours two orthopedic cases and two operations that fall under General Surgery will be performed, while one more patient will be operated on the same day at the ACHEPA hospital.

According to the Ministry of Health, in the paid NHS afternoon surgeries the cost to the patient is less than what would be incurred in the private sector. In each case, the fee to be paid by the patient will range from 300 to 2,000 euros, depending on the severity of the operation.

In Thessaloniki the most long waits

53% of patients waiting more than a year to be operated on, about 14,000 cases, are in Northern Greece, mainly in the hospitals of Thessaloniki.

According to the data of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Workers (POEDIN), 43 operating rooms out of the 70 that are developed operate in the co-capital’s hospitals, due to staff shortages, mainly nurses and anesthetists.

At the “Papageorgiou” hospital, which has the most long waits, about 10 operating theaters operate, out of a total of 14 that are developed.

Until last Friday (8/3), 13 operating room nurses (instrument providers) and 7 Anesthesiology nurses had expressed interest in participating in the afternoon surgeries. Based on the hospital’s schedule, the Federation estimates that a total of 10 to 15 afternoon surgeries will be performed per week, that is, 40 to 60 per month.

It is noted that there are 9,000 patients on the hospital’s waiting list.

As for “ACHEPA”, according to POEDIN, 10 operating theaters are developed and an average of 5 operate.

Gradually other hospitals
After “Papageorgiou” and “ACHEPA” in the coming days, other hospitals are expected to follow, which have declared that they are ready to start the afternoon surgeries, such as the G.N.A. “Evangelism”, the GNTHA “The Salvation”, the G.NA. “C. Gennimatas”, the P.G.N. “Atticon”, the General State of Nicaea.

Soon in the next period they are expected to start the P.G.N. Alexandroupolis, G.N. Kavalas and G.N. Thessaloniki “Agios Pavlos”, while the number of hospitals that declared their complete inability to participate in the Institution, as they do not meet the necessary conditions, is in single digits.

“More than 150 hospitals have said they are organizing evening surgeries. Therefore, they have the necessary personnel to do them,” said the Minister, responding to those who argue that there is not the necessary personnel to support the project.

A special mention was made by Adonis Georgiadis at the University Larissa Hospital, saying “the turnout is amazing” as 100% of staff said they would attend the afternoon surgeries.

The free surgeries are expected to start after April, after the necessary legislative arrangements have been made in order to secure the relevant resources, amounting to 60,000 euros, from the Recovery Fund.