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Doctors getting fed up with being shuttled around to cover gaps

Doctors getting fed up with being shuttled around to cover gaps

A lack of qualified medical personnel in the National Health System means that many doctors are shuttled between hospitals and even sent far from their base to cover emergency needs.

Doctors in one of the three specializations most lacking in the system – anesthesiologists, pathologists and radiologists – move most often.

One such anesthesiologist, based in a public hospital in Piraeus, has spent 140 days over the past three years in several Greek islands covering their needs. His last stint, in Santorini in early November, lasted two days, but such temporary assignments can last up to a month, he says.

Some doctors, exasperated by the constant shuttling, are quitting the system.

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