Hospitals lack air conditioning amid heat wave

Apart from the fundamental and enduring problems of staff shortages and dysfunctional equipment, many of the country's hospitals also have a problem with inadequate or nonexistent air conditioning, hospital workers claim as the first major heat wave of the summer looms. 

According to the union representing Greece's public hospitals, POEDIN, even some of the capital's biggest hospitals have a problem, with several wards, waiting rooms and doctors' surgeries lacking air conditioning.

"Workers collect money to buy air conditioning units," POEDIN said in a statement, adding that patients and their relatives often make donations or bring electric fans from home to offer some respite from the stifling heat. The union blamed Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis, who oversees the country's hospitals, for failing to ensure that air-conditioning units are functional.