Dimensions of… a civil war, with young children as hostages, the confrontation between the anaesthesiologists of the Children’s “Panagiotis and Aglaia Kyriakou” and the administration of the paediatric hospital.

For their part, the doctors are pushing for recruitment of staff in every possible way, complaining of unsafe operation of the operating theatres. On the other hand, the administration is trying to put the brakes on the mobilisations in order not to disrupt the operation of the hospital.

It all started at the end of last week, when the Board of Directors of “Aglaia Kyriakou” announced that regular paediatric surgeries would not be suspended from 27/5. According to the management, “with the existing staff there is no safety issue and therefore all three surgical banks can be operated daily”.

The suspension of the operating rooms was a decision of the anaesthesia department, following similar mobilisations at the adjacent “Aghia Sophia” and while perpetuating the chronic situation of a shortage of anaesthetists. It should be noted that the doctors at the “Aghia Sophia” hospital had planned to suspend regular surgeries from June 1, a decision they took back after receiving assurances, maintaining a wait-and-see attitude for the time being.

The anaesthesiologists of “Aglaia Kyriakou” were not discouraged by the rejection of their mobilisation by the hospital’s Board of Directors and went on a 7-hour work stoppage last Monday, 27/5, with the support of the hospital doctors’ unions (OENGE, EINAP). The hospital appealed against the mobilisation to the Athens Court of First Instance, which declared the work stoppage illegal.

However, the mobilisation continues, as the Athens Piraeus Hospital Doctors Association (AHHPA) has announced a work stoppage for today from 8:00 to 13:00.

In addition, it has decided a work stoppage on Monday 3 June at the same hours and a meeting of all hospital doctors at 11:00 at the Children’s Hospitals. During the work stoppage, emergency surgical cases are being attended to.

“In this anaesthesia department, the strength of the department since January 2024 has been further reduced by four Anaesthesiologists (two to retire and two resignations, the last of which occurred on 5/16/24) resulting in 7 active physicians remaining.

To safely operate the 3 existing rooms and perform anaesthesia duties outside of the operating room (radiation therapy, diagnostic interventional procedures in the Hope Oncology Department, anaesthesia clinic) requires a minimum strength of 11 full-time anaesthesiologists in the department.

The demand to fill all the vacant organic positions in the anaesthesia department and the refusal of illegal overwork and overstaffing that endangers young patients and doctors are just demands,” HINAP said in a statement.

3,000 children on waiting list for surgery at the two paediatric hospitals

The shortage of anaesthetists at the two paediatric hospitals is not a new situation.

Permanent doctor positions were advertised for both hospitals, but there is no demand for new doctors. At Aghia Sophia there was interest in the two posts, with doctors expected to be posted, while the other two came up empty. A

s for “St. Kyriakos”, the management informed in a detailed statement yesterday that one of the three advertised positions was filled and the doctor, Attending B, was registered in the Human Resources Register of the hospital. Meanwhile, according to the administration, a request for the recruitment of two auxiliary doctors is pending.

About 2,000 children are on the waiting list for scheduled surgery at Aghia Sophia Children’s Hospital. A further 1,000 children are also waiting for regular surgery at St. Kyriakou Children’s Hospital, with an estimated wait of six months to a year.

According to the anaesthesiologists at “Aglaia Kyriakou”, the paediatric hospital currently has seven anaesthesiologists and two who have moved from other hospitals (Tzaneio and Corinth General Hospital), but they are adults, which means that in several cases they need the assistance of their colleagues who specialise in children.

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The Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiades, took a position in relation to the doctors’ mobilisations yesterday. Describing in a post what exactly has happened these days he concludes: “The Justice finally on Monday at noon decides that the work stoppage is indeed illegal.

And the trade unionists again under the cover of OENGE and HINAP declare a new work stoppage for Wednesday against which the administration will again appeal…. i.e. Management, Director of Medical Services of the Hospital, Ministry of Health and Independent Justice are saying that regular surgeries must continue at St. Cyriacus Hospital but the unionists insist on not disciplining anyone at all, now what do you think the Ministry of Health and I personally should do about all this, holding children hostage?”

According to reports, the hospital’s Board of Directors will meet tomorrow, Thursday, to find solutions to the staff shortage problem.