Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hello.
My name is Andreas Petroulakis
and this is a hangout held by Google and protagon
with two nominees of the second electoral district of Athens.
They are both doctors of the national health system.
I will start from the older one,
Christos Mihailidis, manager of the Department of Pathology
in Athens General Hospital
and nominee of DHMAR.
And the younger one,
Polytimi, we’ll call her Poli from now on,
Leonardou, who is in charge
of the Department of Radiology in Sismanoglio Hospital
and a nominee of N.D. I welcome both of you.
Nice to be here.
Hello
I would like us to discuss
about our national health system and its perspective.
Let’s start by briefly commenting on the actual condition of NHS.
I will start with you Poli.
Although I am the youngest of us three,
I serve NHS for many years
and I have noticed that its sustainability is now threatened.
The drastic reduction of the public health expenses combined
with the cut of the equipment stock by 70%
and the hospitals’ debts have created a shortage even in office supplies.
Moreover there are no safe shift schedules.
Doctors don’t get paid.
Their salaries are decreased.
I have mentioned many issues
but they all have to do with the financial problem
in the sector.
Resident doctors are no longer occupied
with their education but
with the foreign languages they will need abroad.
I think we should review the health issue from scratch
in order to keep the young scientists here.
Christos? The same question.
Firstly,
by the term NHS people think of hospitals
and health centers
of the country.
This is a mistake.
It is national
and it has to do with health but it is not a system.
It lacks the basic element of the primary medical care.
We need to aim at the creation of primary medical care.
We can later talk about how we will staff it,
which direction we should give to the residents
as for the choice of specialization.
You mean which specializations are needed.
Of course.
Now as for the actual problems of the system,
I could describe many.
We all know them.
Wrong staffing solutions,
for example.
Although we are doctors,
we should say that the greatest problem is the medical staff.
There are over 20,000 empty working places in our hospitals.
We are now facing a lack of supplies
when we were used to the exact opposite.
What would you consider applicable
within the financial constraints?
Which actions would you suggest
in order to overpass the dead end NHS is now facing?
Would you agree in a participation of the private sector?
Poli?
I want to start from what my colleague just said about the new doctors.
There are so many new doctors
that I think the issue is not only helping them choose
the right specialization but helping them during their professional orientation,
choose other scientific fields to deal with.
Medicine produces more doctors than Greece needs.
As for the public hospitals,
many patients address to the emergency section of hospitals
when they shouldn’t.
I will refer to the electronic patient’s card.
We also have to rationalize the supplies.
The supplies system,
that should have been adjusted,
has also failed.
What about the private sector?
Do you think that it has to be introduced in NHS?
Should the structure of NHS change?
It has already changed.
With the new law,
the hospitals’ have merged,
IKA doctors who work under a different agreement.
I am talking about a change of philosophy.
Either the introduction of different working relations
or a privatization of working relations.
For example, in case of limited specializations,
NHS can cooperate with private doctors to cover the needs.
Do you believe that these things pollute the NHS?
I think we should review the issue for such cases
when a child can die due to the lack of a pediatrician.
It may also be a motive for doctors to leave Athens.
The concentration of so many doctors
in the city isn’t good for anyone.
Andreas,
here is a specific suggestion instead
of a vague political comment.
I am in favor of banning all security funds tomorrow.
This can be done with a ministerial decision.
Allow me to give you an example.
Until today,
Greece has had two systems.
Specialized NHS doctors are 12,000.
IKA counts 6,000.
So we have had two systems.
The rest of the funds had their doctors too.
I think we should abolish all these and have a primary medical care.
The primary medical care
was originally based on the staffing of these medical practices.
That is what I am saying.
When health branches are integrated,
their structure and sources of these funds are also integrated.
DHMAR was the only one talking about
the abolition of the health branches for years.
May I answer to the other question about the private sector?
I believe in a national system of health
which will be assisted by the private section under specific rules.
We hear that until June some hospitals will merge.
Do you agree with the syndicalists denouncing the destruction of NHS?
Don’t you think it would be better to create bigger organizations?
Poli?
These are the results of wrong handlings in the past.
Still there are people working in these hospitals,
who are risking losing their job.
So these merges need to be performed in a way
that can assure the jobs of these people.
Should they take place?
They should take place in condition
that the employees and their families are not affected
and that they will be able to adjust in the new environment.
Still the possibility that 20% of NHS hospitals will close down until 2013,
is something we hope that won’t happen.
Should we expand the NHS so as to give work to the doctors?
It was expanded at the times of the customer state.
Let’s leave the past and its mistakes behind.
I mean from now on.
From now on we can rationalize
the health system using the figures.
Taking under consideration
how many patients are received by which hospitals,
how many doctors work in which hospitals.
Improving the workplaces and the conditions
of medical care for the residents of the area.
When a medical center closes down,
people need to be informed about
where they should go
and how quickly they can have access to the nearest hospital.
As for the administration,
by merging hospitals,
the administrative personnel takes over too many hospitals.
We have experienced that in Sismanoglio Hospital.
Impersonal administrations
don’t communicate with the employees.
Maybe we should review the distribution of administrative duties
so that doctors can have an immediate access.
You are right about that.
Christos?
If we don’t record the health care needs,
and I agree with the merge of hospitals in Greece,
we will result having the same problems.
So I think this should take place.
As for your previous discussion.
According to an old saying,
the creation of a health system is not the result of doctors but of illnesses.
This is similar to the fact that the means of transportation
are a result of the people’s need to travel and not of the existence of drivers.
So a person centered system is our priority,
a system which will assure a great work environment and fair salaries.
At this point we have to end our discussion.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.