Greece Ramps up Restrictions but Faces Criticism over Coronavirus Response

That same day, the health ministry called for trained doctors and nurses, not currently working, to volunteer. Documents seen by BIRN suggest the ministry is organising fast-track training in triage and intubation in regional hospitals.

China has sent protective equipment for frontline health workers, but health authorities have nonetheless issued instructions to doctors on how to carry out their work in the absence of the necessary protection, if necessary with bare hands.

The government measures have been broadly welcomed, but there are question marks over the evolving strategy and the capacity of the public healthcare system to weather the storm after years of austerity brought it to the brink of collapse.

'Patchwork' response

Asylum seekers on Lesbos Island. Photo: EPA-EFE/ORESTIS PANAGIOTOU

Greece's National Public Health Organisation says 176 new doctors and 733 nurses and administrative staff have been hired since the Covid-19 outbreak, while another 2,145 hospital staff will be on board within days.

But Meropi Mantaiou, a lung specialist at Sotiria hospital in Athens, which has so far dealt with more than half of Covid-19 cases in Greece, said the numbers are deceiving.

"Very few new doctors have actually integrated in the hospital," Mantaiou told BIRN. "Transfers from other hospitals and clinics have provided more nursing and support personnel but they are inexperienced. You can't use people in ICU [Intensive Care Units] without training. This is a patchwork."

Similar issues plague the state's strategy, or lack of, to deal with the spread of the virus among migrants and refugees in camps on the Greek mainland and islands such as Lesbos.

The government has restricted the movement...

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