Greek hospital doctors have announced their participation in the general 24-hour strike declared by Civil Servants’ Confederation (ADEDY ) and General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.
The doctors are advocating for the resolution of financial demands, the hiring of doctors on a full-time permanent basis, inclusion in heavy and hazardous occupational status and access to free healthcare services for all among other things.
Specifically, the Federation of Hospital Doctors’ Associations of Greece justified their participation in Wednesday’s nationwide strike by pointing out that 49% of the country’s patients are unable to find a doctor, and 24% do not have access to necessary medical examinations.
They further, stress that public healthcare facilities have shrunk by 40% compared to 2009, with staff numbers having been reduced by half, while at the same time profits for private healthcare groups are soaring.
Hospital doctors, also express their opposition to labelling untrained medical school graduates who lack experience as ‘personal doctors’ instead of staffing Health Centers with mass hiring of permanent specialized doctors.
Furthermore, they express their opposition to the transferring of the country’s only public paediatric oncology unit, along with its infrastructure and staff, to the private, business-oriented entity ‘Marianna V. Vardinogianni – Elpida Oncology Hospital for Children’.
Hospital doctors emphasize their concern regarding the downgrading of the Organ Transplant Unit at the ‘Evangelismos’ hospital in Athens, combined with the removal of transplant oversight responsibilities from the public hospitals of ‘Evangelismos’ and ‘Gennimatas’, entirely transferring them to the private Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center.
