Public health cannot wait for elections

It is no coincidence, moreover, that there is a barrage of abdications from the Heads of Health Organizations, as EOF, EKAB, OKANA and Welfare (general secretary), due to their wish to participate in the upcoming elections.

Yesterday, (12/16/2014), a medical website wrote that "the outcome of psychiatric reform is on hold at the moment, because of the upcoming elections", by the order of the Health Minister, Mr. Makis Voridis, in order to avoid turmoil.

Onmed.gr, contacted however, with the Welfare Secretary Mrs. Katerina Papakosta, who stressed that she has received a command to "freeze" the reform and that it is proceeding normally.

We should note that the technical staff of the Ministry has delivered to Mrs. Papakosta the findings regarding the general hospitals, which will accommodate 15 psychiatric clinics which will be moved there from the two psychiatric hospitals, Dafni and Dromokaitio.

Information indicates that the hospitals, which have been found and designated by the members of the technical staff, are the large general hospitals in Attica.

Moreover, according to the finding, it is possible to move the mentally ill in the psychiatric clinics of hospitals. Bear in mind, that the patients who will be moved suffer from severe mental illnesses and each psychiatric clinic has 25 beds, so for 15 Clinics are 375 people; this is the number of those hosted at Dafni and Dromokaitio, at the moment.

The Deputy Minister of Health has stated many times that the psychiatric reform will be completed in June 2015 and that the transition will take place in the most gentle and effective way, so as not to disturb neither a patient nor the family environment. Besides, we all know that these incidents are extremely vulnerable and any transportation can cause a recrudescence.

Therefore, regardless of whether we have elections or not, the major issue is to protect vulnerable groups, wherever located and of course to protect key issues of Public Health.

Also, National Elections cannot be an excuse, when we talk about recruitment, for example, when shortages in both the NHS and the RPHL are huge and the needs of the citizens cannot wait...