Unpaid Incentives Threaten Island Health Services

The Leros Hospital and Health Centre Doctors Union expressed deep concern and anger over the failure to pay financial incentives to doctors serving at Patmos Health Centre.

The union said recent public complaints by colleagues revealed an unacceptable situation. A full year after applications and supporting documents were submitted, staff had received no solution and instead faced mutual accusations, disputed paperwork and continuing attempts to shift responsibility.

If the Municipality of Patmos maintained that documents were missing, the union said it must publish precisely when applicants were informed, what additional information was requested and how that request was made.

Invoking missing documents after a year of procedures did not amount to serious administration or a solution, the statement said.

Doctors on Patmos work in a remote island area, covering the continuing needs of residents and a much larger visitor population. Instead of receiving support, they were being forced to fight even for basic benefits already established as incentives to remain in their posts.

Housing must be a state responsibility

The union argued that decent housing for all public employees serving on the islands could not depend on piecemeal initiatives or the financial resources of each municipality.

Housing was not a privilege or charity, it said, but a necessary condition for staffing remote regions. It should be the exclusive responsibility of the state, supported by permanent funding and a single legal framework for all public employees serving in island, mountain and hard-to-reach areas.

Passing responsibility to municipalities created inequality between areas, delays and uncertainty, ultimately undermining public services.

Risk to public healthcare

The union said the consequences were already visible. When responsible authorities failed to honour their commitments, employees became more likely to leave island public services.

Public statements by doctors considering applications for other National Health System posts and leaving Patmos should be treated as a warning to the entire local community.

The issue did not concern doctors alone. It affected every Patmos resident entitled to high-quality public healthcare, every patient needing prompt and safe medical treatment and the ability to staff public health facilities and other island services.

Union's demands

The union called on the Municipality of Patmos to stop avoiding the issue and take immediate action.

Pay every outstanding amount to those entitled to receive it.
Provide full public information on the progress of the relevant procedures.
Ensure that no employee has to use a public dispute to claim what is already owed.

It also called on the government to establish a universal, permanent and properly funded housing programme for every public employee serving in remote, island and hard-to-reach areas, so that remaining in a post did not depend on the finances or choices of individual municipalities.

Understaffing in island health facilities and public services could not be solved through press releases, correspondence and shifting responsibility, the union said. It required action.

Workers were not beggars and were not asking for a favour, the statement added. They were demanding that the state honour its commitments.

The union pledged to continue defending the right of people on Patmos, Leros, Lipsi and Agathonisi to public, free and high-quality healthcare, while seeking meaningful support for the employees who keep public services operating on the remote islands.

The statement was signed for the union board by president Georgios Tsoukalas and general secretary Georgios Torlakidis.