Doctors’ union blames staff, ambulance shortage for woman’s death

A 48-year-old mother of two died in Thesprotia in Western Greece because her local medical center was closed due to a doctor shortage and because there was no ambulance to take her to another facility, the union of public hospital workers (POEDIN) charged on Wednesday.

The incident reportedly occurred at 10 p.m. on Monday when the woman fell ill, but the Margariti Health Center, just 50 meters from her home, had shut early, at 3 p.m.

POEDIN said that doctors at the center, which does not have an ambulance, are convinced that “they could have saved the woman if the health center had been open, as her medical history was known.”

The unnamed woman was transferred to a health center in the town of Igoumenitsa that had dispatched an ambulance, but POEDIN said it was too late.