They start afternoon surgeries in Patras as well. The University Hospital of Patras is ready to operate on patients from March 26.

According to the Commander of the 6th Ministry of Health Yannis Karvelis, the PGNP is the first to start, as already for next Tuesday, March 26, two operating theaters have been allocated, for vascular surgery and neurosurgery operations.

While on March 28 two more rooms will be made available to general surgeons and orthopedists, for already arranged surgeries.

In the near future, the “St. Andreas” hospital will also be included in the program of afternoon surgeries, since doctors in the surgical field already have waiting lists with patients.

Reactions from EINA

In the meantime, the Association of Hospital Doctors of Achaia expressed its opposition to the operation of the afternoon surgeries and is proceeding on the day of their opening with a work stoppage and gathering at the PGNP.

In an announcement by the Union of Doctors of Hospitals of Achaia, the following are mentioned:

Without any shame on the part of the government, the operation of the afternoon surgeries in hospitals throughout the country is being launched these days. Infuriating images such as the minister’s fiesta over a patient, who has been waiting since 2019 to be operated on and should feel happy because paying out of his own pocket he managed to be operated on after 5 years in<δημόσιο>> health system. Unable to admit that the policy they serve has the sole purpose of providing health services only to those who have to pay, the government, in continuation of the previous ones, is proceeding with the complete commercialization of health.

At the same time that there are 8 vacant organic positions for anesthesiologists and another 24 vacant organic positions from all surgical specialties in the PGNP, which remain four operating theaters closed out of twelve, the government advertises the operation of the evening-paid-surgeries and indeed with the existing staff. Staff who are owed thousands of days off, regular years of leave, staff who know all too well what it means to be burnt out and overworked. But mainly he asks the patients to agree to pay for their Health for the umpteenth time, because this is imposed by the policy that considers health as a cost that can be cut and discounted. After all, the income from<νόμιμο>> envelope intended to cover the operating costs of the otherwise public hospitals, putting the burden on the people to disengage the state budget, at the same time that the government gives tens of billions to shipowners and large companies.

They will find in front of them every honest health worker who wants to live on his salary, who wants to offer his services to whoever needs it and not only to whoever has to pay!

We universally appeal to the staff not to participate, not to legitimize any packet.

We appeal to the people of the region not to legitimize in their consciousness that they will have to pay to access the public health system.

We will not be complicit in the further commercialization of the NHS!

In view of tomorrow’s visit of the Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis, to the Children’s Hospital of our city, which for years remained degraded under the responsibility of the respective governments, we remind you that the interventions and mobilizations of EINA in collaboration with the Municipality of Patreon and the city’s agencies are these which led to the decision to upgrade it.

We therefore inform you that:

We do not participate in fiestas of overturning logic and violating the fundamental right to health
We do not accept being paid by the backlog of the people
The solutions to the problems of Public Health will be given through its strengthening and not its deconstruction.

We are not the 1% who react. Rather, those in the ruling 1% persist in distorting reality, working for the interests of big private capital in health.

WE CLAIM

Here and now wage increases
Recruiting all necessary staff to open all operating rooms in public hospitals
Human working hours

We are going on strike on Tuesday, March 26, 12:00pm-3:00pm, opening day of the afternoon surgeries, and gathering at the University Hospital together with patient associations, workers’ unions.

We declare to them that in the dilemma of our lives, our profits we answer: our lives!

We demand Free Public Health for ALL!