PM thanks nursing staff in referral hospitals

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday thanked nursing staff working in hospitals treating patients with Covid-19, saying his government was acutely aware of the shortages in the national healthcare system and took steps to increase the number of hirings.

“We were aware that we ranked in the last positions in Europe for the number of nursing staff per citizen, based on the population. The coronavirus crisis was an opportunity  to rapidly increase the nursing staff throughout the country but we fully acknowledge that we are not yet where we want to be,” he said in a teleconference with the heads of the nursing departments at 12 coronavirus referral hospitals throughout  the country, on the occasion of International Nurses Day.

“Taking into consideration that today is International Nurses Day, I want to express a huge thank you for everything you have done, to all of you that were on the frontline against this unprecedented health crisis,” he added. "You saved lives and cared for our compatriots in need with self-sacrifice and quality."

Mitsotakis said that the hiring during the last few months had returned the number of nursing staff to the same level as before the economic crisis, reversing a long declining trend.