Understaffing and antiquated equipment are hindering the efficient operation of clinics at state hospitals, resulting in delays for patients awaiting examinations and diagnoses, it was revealed yesterday.

Upgrading equipment and computerizing biochemical clinics would ensure that patients were seen without delay and needless repeat tests could be avoided, doctors told a press conference yesterday ahead of a seminar on biochemistry in Athens later this week.

“The biochemical clinic is crucial to the operation of a hospital,” the seminar’s committee president, Amalia Dionysiou-Asteriou, said.

A clinic doctor should have the results of tests on a heart attack patient within 45 minutes of that patient arriving at the hospital so that the correct amount of drugs can be administered, Dionysiou-Asteriou said. Understaffing, inadequate training of some clinic staff and bad organization mean that often this is not the case, she said.

A computer system in all hospital clinics would help rule out human error and improve efficiency, experts agreed.