His scale SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance led by the Secretary of the Parliamentary Group, Dionysis Kalamatianos, visited EKAB today and had a meeting with its management, after the tragic events of the last few days. After the meeting, Mr. Kalamatianos made the following statement to the press representatives:

“Within twenty-four hours we had the painful loss of three more of our fellow human beings and they came to be added to the list of victims waiting for an ambulance which never appeared.

The shortages, mainly in personnel but also in vehicles in ECAV they are huge. This tragedy must end.

Mr. Mitsotakis and the ND government, who have been at the helm of the country for four years already, without fiscal restrictions and spending billions, must take their responsibilities.

We expect Mr. Mitsotakis in the afternoon, in the program statements, to announce the recruitment of personnel necessary for the full operation of EKAB.

Citizens demand decent health services, they demand the right to life.”

Then answering questions from journalists, Mr. Kalamatianos noted that from the meeting it emerged that “at least 50 sectors operate with 1 ambulance, which shows the great lack mainly of personnel but also of vehicles” and added that the biggest gaps exist ” mainly in the insular area and the hard-to-reach areas”. With reference to the recent Act of Legislative Content of the ND government, Mr. Kalamatianos underlined that “the solutions proposed by the government, i.e. the involvement of firefighters, the army and municipal employees in the process of crews, of filling ambulances, are a temporary solution, it is a necessary solution that in no way corresponds to what is needed by the completeness of the EKAB operation and public health”. Finally, referring to the proposals of SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance, Mr. Kalamatianos pointed out the need for permanent recruitment in EKAB but also in public health as a whole. “We have talked about 15,000 recruitments, not replacements, 15,000 new recruitments in public health. An increase in funds for public health and of course an increase in the salaries of doctors, nurses and health personnel,” he stressed.