He emphasized that SYRIZA has included in its program the position for an introductory salary of 2,000 euros for medical staff.
“To stop the abandonment of the NHS and to give incentives to doctors and staff”, was his main message Alexis Tsipras during his visit to the General Hospital of Ikaria, where he had the opportunity to discuss with workers about the problems they face.
The president of SYRIZA-PS spoke of “an image of abandonment” based on what the workers conveyed to him, who noted as the biggest problem of basic shortages in key specialties. Mr. Tsipras pointed out in terms of the incentives that should be given to the medical staff, that SYRIZA has included in its program the position for an introductory salary of 2,000 euros. “He will raise the salary but there is no other solution. Bad lies. When a doctor does the specialty, he knows that he will go to England and get 6,000 and 7,000 or respectively in Cyprus. Why should he sit here and get 800 euros”, he said of the doctors, noting at the same time that they should join the heavy and unhealthy nurses and staff. He emphasized that, however, “the direction that exists at the moment, the “other” perception of the welfare state is that there does not need to be many public hospitals. We also have the private ones.” “The direction is the discrediting of the NSS. It’s just that now we’re not talking about discrediting, we’re talking about the collapse of the NSS”, he underlined.
Hospital workers, according to party sources, told the president of SYRIZA-PS that the main problem is that there is no pathologist, that there is a surgeon but no anesthesiologist, so no surgeries can be performed and that in one month there were 7 evacuations due to lack of anesthesiologist. In particular, the representative of the workers described the situation by stating: “If you were a resident here on the island you would wait for a prescription for a long time. In the emergency you would be served by an unqualified rural doctor. Half the shifts a month don’t have an axis, so people are forced to pay. And finally, if you had a child you wouldn’t have a pediatrician here to see him.” Other workers noted that there are not enough nurses, with the result that “the artificial kidney unit is unable to serve the island’s kidney patients”. “I am currently working with an auxiliary nurse commuting from the Voula hospital. The other two nurses who came now are not trained. There is huge pressure from 15 people who need hemodialysis and I cannot serve them due to staff,” said nephrologist Stavros Stathakis, according to the same sources. He added that the law says about two nurses per shift, but there are none, and that it provides for two doctors, but there are none. “Now we work with one nurse per shift and I have a trainee who I am constantly worried about making a mistake and having to be on top of her all the time. And we are talking about a public hospital that has other needs. That is, an emergency call. Cases in pathology where we do not have a pathologist. Orthopedist fills the position. All about a series of incidents who will he call? The one that is closest to the pathological. Fifteen patients cannot be covered with three machines which are becoming irregular 4,” he continued. In addition, representatives of nurses reported that during the pandemic the Ikaria hospital, without being a reference hospital, served and continued to treat cases. “Without x-ray, without pcr, with rapid test, as a result of Christmas the coronavirus escaped inside the hospital and infected doctors, staff and relatives of patients”, they said.
“Extend insularity to fuel and food”
The “tragic deficiencies” in the island’s hospital were also raised in the subsequent meeting that Alexis Tsipras had with mayor of the island, Nikos Kalaboyawith the official opposition leader stressing that “health is a matter of security for the residents”. “The image from the hospital I visited is an image of abandonment. He can’t have a surgeon without an anesthesiologist, so he can’t do surgeries. He can’t be without a doctor. And it is not possible for a hospital in Ikaria, which has long distances, to have only one emergency care shift”, said Mr. Tsipras. He emphasized that these “are critical issues that we must look at as a State. And you as a local government, the burden falls on you because you are the breakwater of the citizens’ discontent, but also the one that the citizens expect to put pressure on the government and find solutions”.
Referring to the overall issue of insularity, Mr Tsipras noted that the transport equivalent reform introduced by the SYRIZA government should be maintained and extended. “The issue of insularity is crucial. Not only to give a sense of justice and equality to the citizens, but also to maintain the development of life and development in our islands. Because if we don’t deal with it, it will be disadvantageous for a new person to stay on the island and not become an immigrant.” he said. He underlined that “the reform of the transport equivalent that we started in 2018 must be expanded, not curtailed. We are out of the memorandums now.” “What does metaphorical equivalent mean? That for every native and for every visitor, even for a limited number of tickets, the travel cost will be equivalent to the travel inland. Let’s extend it to fuel and food. You don’t have to pay tax because you decided to stay on an island. I say this because gasoline costs 30-40 cents more than inland, and the same in the supermarket,” he stressed. The president of SYRIZA emphasized that “this abandonment, which concerns not only Ikaria but a series of islands, must stop”, adding that we should “put a lot of weight on our people, on the islanders to give them the opportunity to stay “, as “without happy people you cannot build places to move forward”.
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