The controversy erupted after images circulated online showing flooded areas at Rhodes hospital following damage to a pipeline in the building.

Sakellaridis argued that the incident once again highlights the serious problems facing the National Health System, challenging the government’s narrative about improvements in public hospitals.

Rhodes hospital covers the needs not only of the island’s residents, but also of neighbouring island areas when required. During the tourist season, it is also called upon to serve a significantly increased number of citizens and visitors.

A video published by Sakellaridis on social media on Thursday 18 June showed flooded hospital areas after part of a false ceiling collapsed due to a broken pipe.

In his post, the New Left leader argued that behind the image presented by the political leadership of the Ministry of Health lies a different reality for patients and workers.

‘Behind the posts of the minister-influencer, however, lies the harsh truth. Patients seeking treatment, as well as doctors and nursing staff working in the NHS, are called upon to operate daily in third-world conditions. Despite the grandiloquence about renovating the buildings, they in reality remain unsuitable and dangerous for the physical integrity of patients, relatives and employees,’ he wrote.

He also called for immediate measures to strengthen the public health system, saying:

‘Enough!

‘Increases in healthcare salaries so that they are competitive with corresponding positions abroad and in the private sector.

‘Recruitment of personnel so that doctors and nursing staff do not work exhausting hours.

‘Strengthening primary healthcare so that hospitals are decongested.

‘Support for the National Health System.’

The hospital administration’s explanation

The administrator of Rhodes hospital, Nikos Karamaritis, explained, according to Rodiaki, that the damage was caused by a valve supplying the hospital’s central air-conditioning units, located in the building’s machine room.

He said the failure caused a water leak, which reached lower floors through the lift shafts.

He announced that the problem was immediately identified and the faulty valve replaced, while clarifying that the incident was not related to renovation work currently under way through Recovery and Resilience Fund financing.

Earlier, the president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees (POEDIN), Michalis Giannakos, had denounced shoddy work in a recently delivered project, noting that the replacement of pipes had been financed and carried out through the Recovery Fund.

Georgiadis: Sakellaridis found ‘an opportunity for populism’

Responding to Sakellaridis’ sharp criticism, Georgiadis republished his post and claimed that the New Left secretary ‘found the opportunity for a little populism’.

He wrote:

‘Today the President of the New Left @gsakellaridis made the following post and published this video from Rhodes hospital.’

The minister said he contacted the hospital administration and received the following information:

‘A pipe broke in the machine room on the second floor, a thirty-year-old metal one. The water went to the first floor and washed away the paper panels of the false ceiling. We closed the valves and that was it. We mopped the hallway and in ten minutes everything was back on. Tomorrow morning we will put the paper panels back on the false ceiling.’

Georgiadis also noted that modernisation works are under way at Rhodes hospital through the Recovery Fund, stressing that the building’s pipes are old and that a decision has already been made to replace them completely.

‘Note that in this particular hospital, where not a single screw has been changed since 2000, we are completing all the RRF projects and, by my own decision, we have also started changing all the pipes, which have unfortunately rotted. For this incident, the “serious” Mr Sakellaridis found the opportunity for a little populism from a problem that we know about and are dealing with… They do not change.’

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