At last, hospitals get admission services
Admissions departments will be introduced to all state hospitals as one of the major changes to be made to the health system, Health Minister Alekos Papadopoulos said yesterday after a meeting with Prime Minister Costas Simitis. Other changes include improvements to infrastructure and training staff to adopt an appropriate attitude to patients, as well as a new system of administration using hospital managers. Our main goal is to build a real public health system that will above all function for our citizens and then for the rest of us, he said. The admissions departments, said Papadopoulos, would be sited at hospital entrances, would be easily accessible and clearly marked in Greek and English. They would be open at all hours that clinics were in session. Emphasis would also be placed, he added, on training staff to be friendly, understanding, polite and willing and to give clear instructions and to accompany people who have difficulty in following the instructions. The spokesman denied that the publication heralded a wave of arrests of terror suspects, a rumor which has been in the air for over a year.
