The General Hospital of Rhodes is in a state of crisis, teetering on the edge of collapse. Doctors are resigning en masse, there’s a severe shortage of nursing staff, and all of this is unfolding just as the tourist season hits its peak, according to the National Federation of Greek Doctors (OENGE). One clinic after another is shutting its doors because the remaining staff simply cannot meet demand.

The Neurology Department is being forced to suspend its operations due to a lack of nurses. The situation in the Neurosurgery Department is just as dire: two of the three neurosurgeons have already handed in their resignations, and the third is reportedly preparing to do the same.

OENGE reports that the hospital’s management and the regional health authority have refused for months to approve additional on-call hours, meaning doctors are effectively working for free. In a scathing statement, the doctors’ group “United Movement for Change” mocked officials by saying they “seem to have forgotten basic primary school math and can’t manage a simple division (30 divided by 3 equals 10).”

Pushing doctors to quit in order to justify privatisation

Doctors point out the absurdity of the situation: while there’s no funding for their extra shifts, there is money being earmarked for private air ambulance services to fly neurosurgery patients from Rhodes and the Dodecanese islands to Athens or Crete. This appears to be the government’s preferred solution.

Meanwhile, other departments are also under immense strain:

  • The Breast Imaging Unit may soon shut down due to the early retirement of the lead doctor.
  • The Paediatrics Department is running with just one qualified paediatrician.
  • A doctor has recently resigned from the Internal Medicine ward, which was already critically understaffed.
  • The General Radiology Department has just two doctors, and only 11 of the 26 technician positions are filled. As a result, vital machines like the MRI scanner and the bone density unit operate only once a week.

Doctors’ associations are calling it a deliberate strategy to weaken Greece’s public health system (ESY), accusing the government of pushing doctors to quit in order to justify privatisation.

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