Attikon’s first surgery lifts hearts at hospital
A 52-year-old woman yesterday became the first person to undergo heart surgery in the new clinic at Attikon Hospital in Haidari, western Athens, which was hailed as the answer to Attica’s medical problems. Health Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos watched part of the operation and said that the Attikon was the most modern hospital in Greece and would help relieve hospital bed shortages in Attica. The university hospital is not yet operating at full capacity due to a shortage of staff. Only some 350 of the 750 beds at the hospital are currently available to patients, hospital director Nikos Iliadis told Kathimerini. The shortage means that several of the hospital’s departments have yet to open. Avramopoulos said the Pediatric Department would open next and that more nurses and administrators would be hired soon.
