Popular destinations relying on volunteers for summer ambulance service

The union of Greek hospital workers, POEDIN, has raised the alarm over “understaffed” ambulance services on the Greek islands this summer.

Lashing out against the Health Ministry, the union said no effort was made to hire permanent and auxiliary staff and bemoaned that the EKAV ambulance service on the islands must rely on volunteers from other parts of the country.

A case in point is the popular holiday island of Myconos, which only has an ambulance staff of six instead of the 10 it is supposed to have. It has only one ambulance.

The island of Paros has a staff of only nine, who are forced to work without any days off, while it too has only one ambulance.

The popular tourist destination of Kos, which is home to a large local population and is currently hosting hundreds of migrants and refugees, has five ambulance workers who work six days a week and are already owed hundreds of days off. The island has one EKAV ambulance available for each shift.

Chios has an EKAV staff of 13 which also must cater to a relatively large local population, tourists and refugees. There is one ambulance for each shift while a second ambulance is only available during morning shifts twice a week.