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The university hospitals of Areteio and Eginitio suspended taking patients and working on duty for an indefinite period of time because they can not cover the financial costs of medications. They will work just as polyclinics without taking patients for treatment, decided the boards of the hospitals during the general meeting, which was attended by representatives of the Dean of the Medical Faculty of the Athens University.

The employees of the two hospitals gathered this morning to protest outside the hospital of Areteio with slogans, warning that "health is suffering." The protesting doctors blocked the traffic on the central Vasilisa Sofia Avenue for a short time without disturbing it seriously. The two university hospitals are under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, which owes them about 9 million for unpaid duties.

"The reasons that led us to protest are first, the reduced funding by the Ministry of Education, which is still expected for 2011. It includes the costs of operation of the hospital, but also the salaries of the staff. The people, who work here, are not like the other civil servants and they are paid by the hospital, not by the Audit Office. Second, we want the Ministry of Health to pay the debts accumulated from unpaid duties to the doctors who specialize in the hospital. These duties are paid by the Ministry of Health and 9 million euros have accrued in recent years. Annually, this means about 2.2 million euros for 81 medical doctors who specialize, and the Ministry gives us about 700 000 euros per year. The third reason is the debt of the insurance funds to the hospitals and especially the security fund of the civil servants, the obligations of which for 2010 amount to two million euros. The money allocated will cover the salaries until the 15^th of May, and what will happen then? Our main interest is the hospital functioning”, told GRreporter Argiris Anagnostou - the President of the union of employees in the hospital of Areteio. He added that only patients who have been waiting a long time could be hospitalised. All the others, who come to the external examining cabinets of the university hospital, are sent for treatment elsewhere. "There is no money to run the hospital, we do not strike, we are here and work, but we want to the costs of running the hospital to be covered," said Argiris Anagnostou. As it became clear, there is no money for medicines, food and staff salaries. The management of hospitals considered that this situation prevents the normal functioning of the hospital, which could lead suspension of duties.

In an interview on Radio Vima 99.5, the chairman of the Eginitio hospital staff Sotiris Triandafiou stated that there is lack of first-aid medications due to the insufficient funding, which endangers the lives of patients. "The state forces us not to take the patients and to stop the duties" said Triandafilou.

There is not enough staff in the hospital of Areteio and, like in most public hospitals, the situation got worse during the last two years as almost 50% (about 370) of the permanent jobs for attendants, nurses and hygienists are vacant. For this reason, the hospital administration had to reduce the beds for patients by 40% in 2009, mainly in the surgical and maternity units, reported zougla.gr.

The Ministry of Education, in turn, announced that "all necessary actions have been made for transferring the first funding installments to the two university hospitals and to reduce their costs of operation. The approval of the 2011 budget was sent for publication in the Official Gazette," said a statement.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Education has sent to the Audit Office a request to pay for the first four months of the year from January to April, which is equal to 28% of their budget. A document has been also sent stating that the teachers at the Medical Faculty of the Athens University, working in both hospitals, should receive their salaries from the budget of the Ministry of Education rather than from the budget of the hospitals. Accordingly, it has been required the doctors who specialize to be paid directly by the Ministry of Health too.

In response to the protests, the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Health Nikos Polizos said that, most likely funds in the amount of 12 million euros will be allocated from the Ministry of Education during the week and the hospitals will be able to pay back the suppliers.