Can the existing ICU beds meet the needs of Crete, especially in the summer months, when the island is full of tourists?
The answer is “no” and this is not because there are no beds and equipment, but because they do not have the required medical and nursing staff to operate them, in their entirety.
Today in Venizelio and PAGNI, 10 critical beds for the treatment of critically ill patients are closed.
The PAGNI Unit has 60 nurses, while an additional 21 people are needed. The department had 20 doctors and is down to 14, including a retiree who got a 1-year extension. Many preferred to resign, since in the private sector and especially abroad, they secure multiple salaries.
So the hospital can have a total of 27 Intensive Care beds, but usually 20 or even 1-2 more are used.
In Venizelio, the resigned director of the Kioulpalis Ambulance Unit points out that the hospital has 15 Intensive Care beds, but 3 are closed.
The reason is again, the lack of doctors and nurses. After all, he himself is already on leave, before leaving the hospital permanently due to retirement, after his decision not to extend
his tenure at the hospital.
“It’s obvious that it’s not enough to have intensive care beds and equipment if you don’t have the staff to operate them”Mr. Kioulpalis pointed out, noting that the needs multiply in the months
of summer because of the tourists.
In addition, patients are transferred to Crete from neighboring islands. All over Greece intensive care beds increased due to the pandemic and reached 1000, however 90 of them are out of order, due to lack of
personnel.
This issue concerns, among other things, the PAGNI Employees’ Union which is holding a broad meeting on the problems in the NHS and as the president Dimitris Vrysalis told us, is preparing to organize another big rally for health in Heraklion, on May 21st.
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