Hospital patients treated like ‘human sacks’, say doctors
Doctors say one patient died in front of staff and other patients at Evangelismos hospital, where the sick are piled up like ‘human sacks’ while waiting to be seen.
Patients are being piled up like “human sacks” in one of Athens biggest hospitals while they are left waiting for tests or to see specialists, trainee doctors have said, publishing a photograph to illustrate the extent of the problem.
The photograph, taken on Tuesday at Evangelismos hospital, shows at least 14 patients, many of them elderly, on beds and trolleys crammed into a ward in the hospital.
There is barely room to move between the patients, some of whom are on drips.
The photograph was uploaded to the Facebook page of the Association of Resident Doctors at Evangelismos, the second day that the hospital’s Cat scan machine was out of order.
In a message accompanying the photograph, the resident doctors said patients were being taken from other hospitals in order to see specialists or were taken to other hospitals for tests.
“Ambulances are dropping off patients in their hundreds. These patients then play their luck for several excruciating hours while waiting to be treated.”
A few hours later, the page’s administrators added a message saying that among the patients crowded into the ward, “one was intubated, another suffered a heart attack while a third died in front of staff and other patients”.
TV minister
On Wednesday, during one of his frequent TV appearances, the health minister said that the Cat scan machine, which broke down on Friday, would be fixed by noon.
Adonis Georgiadis said that there were delays in repairing the machine because a circuit board had to be ordered from abroad.
Georgiadis went on to note that there has been a marked increase of admissions at private hospitals.
He said: “According to studies, public systems cost us more than private systems. This is the problem. We are not saying things are simple.”
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