By Penny Bouloutza - Kathimerini

The hospital on Rhodes is small in terms of staffing and large in terms of demand, according to Savvas Karatapanis, an anesthetist and the president of Rhodes Hospital's Doctors' Union. In the winter, the hospital deals with about 100 cases a day but in the summer the number of cases is double and, on peak days, there might be 250 cases. The hospital has no emergency outpatient unit but just an area to receive patients. According to Karatapanis, the medical and nursing staff at the hospital is inadequate to meet the requirements of the permanent population. The cardiology unit has five doctors who share the duties in the clinic, the outpatient unit, the coronary care unit and other clinics. The intensive-care unit has four doctors and six nurses with the result that only four of the eight beds can be used. In the neurosurgical clinic, there is one permanent doctor. There are only three pediatricians for the entire hospital and the pediatrician from the Archangelos Health Center comes to help when the hospital is on duty. There is also a shortage of nursing staff and at least 50 positions remain unfilled. Since April, the Health Ministry has recruited 105 people (nursing, administrative and other staff) for the Rhodes Hospital and supervisors for the health centers, of whom only 24 are on permanent contracts.