Leros Hospital Staff: 'Painted Walls Do Not Treat Patients'

The unions representing employees and doctors at Leros Hospital issued a joint statement condemning what they described as chronic and dangerous understaffing, warning that buildings and equipment alone could not provide safe care.

CT scanner unavailable because of staff shortage

The statement cited an 'exceptionally urgent' letter, reference 7791/27-08-2026, sent by the hospital administration to the national emergency care service, EKAB.

It formally stated that the radiology department could not operate the CT scanner from 25 to 30 August 2026 because the radiology technologist on duty had taken emergency leave.

Until the employee returned, or another suitably qualified member of staff became available, CT examinations could not be carried out at the hospital.

The unions said the hospital had a CT scanner but not enough staff to guarantee that it remained in service. That, they argued, was the reality behind official claims of an upgrade.

They said the incident was not isolated but part of a wider staffing crisis, including the absence of a cardiologist and serious gaps in other essential medical specialties.

This had created a dangerous chain of shortages. Crucial specialties were either absent or inadequately covered, while modern diagnostic equipment could not operate continuously because the necessary staff had not been secured.

Leros Hospital served not only the island but also residents and visitors from smaller neighbouring islands, the unions noted. In this part of the Aegean, access to a larger hospital was neither immediate nor guaranteed.

What does an upgrade mean?

The unions asked what an upgrade meant if hospital walls were painted while no cardiologist was available, buildings were renovated while key specialties remained vacant, or a CT scanner was installed without enough staff to keep it running.

They did not dispute the need for modern, dignified and safe premises. A hospital, however, was not simply its buildings and machines. Above all, it was its people.

Painted walls do not treat patients

Walls do not diagnose illness, buildings do not work on call and machines do not operate by themselves, the statement said. Renovations could not replace doctors, nurses, technologists and other staff.

Patients needed doctors, nurses and technologists. They needed laboratories and diagnostic services operating when required, and a fully staffed hospital rather than an attractive but understaffed facade.

The lack of a cardiologist, gaps in other core specialties and the inability to operate the CT scanner were not separate problems, the unions argued. Each was a different expression of chronic understaffing.

Patient transfers cannot replace staffing

Being unable to provide CT scans was not a minor administrative failure, the statement continued. People with multiple injuries, suspected strokes, acute abdominal or chest conditions and other emergencies might require immediate imaging, and in those cases every minute mattered.

Transfers were necessary when a patient's condition and genuine medical needs required them. They should not become the solution because a hospital had been left without enough staff to operate equipment it already possessed.

The response could not simply be that the CT scanner was unavailable and the patient should be transferred, the unions said.

On a Greek island, a transfer could mean waiting for transport, leaving the island and losing valuable additional time before reaching the receiving hospital.

A transfer should take place because the patient's condition required it, not because the hospital lacked the personnel needed to use its own equipment.

The employee on leave was not to blame

The unions stressed that every employee had an unquestionable legal right to leave, rest and absence when circumstances required it.

The problem was not the employee's leave. It was that the operation of a critical diagnostic service depended on one person's presence.

One employee's absence should not take an entire CT scanner out of service, they said. That was not adequate staffing but a service operating at its limit.

Last-minute measures are not a real upgrade

The administration's letter said that a request had been sent to the 2nd Health Region on 25 August, followed on 26 August by a call for expressions of interest from appropriately qualified staff who could cover the hospital.

The unions argued that staff should not be sought only after the problem had already emerged. A public hospital could not continually depend on emergency transfers of personnel, last-minute calls, excessive workloads and the goodwill of existing staff.

Construction work and modern equipment were necessary, they said, but without permanent and sufficient staffing they could not guarantee modern and safe healthcare.

Projects without staff became temporary patches. Renovation without recruitment improved the appearance of a hospital but not the care it could provide.

A genuine upgrade would mean having a cardiologist, covering the main medical specialties, employing enough nursing, allied health, technical and support staff, and ensuring the CT scanner worked whenever a patient needed it.

It would also mean that no critical service depended on a single employee and that Leros Hospital could safely meet the needs of Leros and the smaller surrounding islands.

Political and administrative responsibility

The situation had not developed in one day, the statement said. It was the result of long-term understaffing and a policy that treated public health as a cost rather than responding to the population's real needs.

The unions assigned responsibility to the government and Ministry of Health for long-term shortages and failure to fill posts in time.

They said the 2nd Health Region and hospital administration also carried responsibility, within their areas of authority, for timely planning and for ensuring that hospital services operated safely and continuously.

The unions rejected the commercialisation of health care, the treatment of understaffing as normal, and the presentation of painting, renovation and construction work as evidence of substantial improvement when the people needed to run the hospital had not been secured.

The unions' demands

• Immediate provision of the staff needed for uninterrupted operation of the CT scanner.
• Permanent and adequate staffing of the radiology department so that it does not depend on one employee.
• Immediate recruitment of a cardiologist and staff for other essential medical specialties.
• Large-scale permanent recruitment of medical, nursing, allied health, technical and other personnel.
• Filling every vacant permanent post.
• Meaningful financial, housing and other incentives to attract and retain staff and doctors on the islands.
• Full state funding for public health services based on the genuine needs of residents and visitors to Leros and the surrounding islands.

The statement called for an end to last-minute fixes and temporary measures. Buildings did not treat patients, machines could not work without staff and transfers could not replace recruitment, it said.

It demanded permanent recruitment and full staffing of Leros Hospital as part of a modern, exclusively public and free health system able to meet the real needs of Leros and neighbouring islands.

The announcement was signed by K. Forozi, president of the Leros State Treatment Centre Employees' Union, its general secretary G. Tsoukalas, and by G. Tsoukalas and G. Torlakidis, president and general secretary respectively of EITHEL, the local hospital doctors' association.

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