Kilkis hospital workers call for stability check

The union representing workers at the general hospital of Kilkis in northern Greece are calling for an immediate inspection of the structural stability and safety of its buildings.

The union issued the call in an announcement to the media on Tuesday after recent reports that large quantities of plaster have been crumbling off the walls and balconies of several wings of the hospital and falling to the ground.

It said that a ceiling collapsed next to a patient in January this year and that an apprentice was lightly injured by falling plaster last year.

The union bemoaned that nothing has been done to address the structural weaknesses of the hospital’s buildings, citing safety concerns noted in a report commissioned by the hospital administration in 2016.

It also stressed that the hospital’s fire protection certificate expired years ago, and that elevators do not have the requisite certificates.

The hospital was built in 1937.