Evangelismos, Greece’s largest public hospital located in central Athens, is facing a serious shortage in medicine, according to the hospital’s employee union.
Cardiologist Elias Sioras, president of the hospital employee union, told Protothema.gr that while Evangelismos‘ budget for 2015 was 72 million euros, the hospital has received only 49 million so far. Meanwhile, the 2016 budget is less than that.
Characteristically, Sioras said, the administration was forced to re-allocate 390,000 euros from the budget for the purchase of medicine that would only last for a few days.
“We were informed that we will get 4.5 million euros in credit for medicines, reagents and medical supplies. We haven’t received that yet. But when they do, they will only last for 20 days,” says an official hospital statement.
According to the report, hospital employees estimate that 1.8 out of the 4.5 million euros will go for medicines, “meaning that by January 10 we will be in today’s situation, if not worse. The minimum monthly cost of medicines is 2.75 million euros,” Sioras said.
Also, the employee representative said, there is substantial shortage of funds for uninsured patients. Since January, he said, about 1,000 uninsured patients received treatment or were hospitalized since January, costing an average 2,200 euros each.
“The funds allocated for uninsured patients, who are obviously increasing in numbers due to the economic crisis, should have been at least 3 million euros per year for Evangelismos,” the employee union statement says.
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