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The Greek health ministry on Friday requisitioned two private clinics in Thessaloniki (north), the second most important city in the country, where one in three people are infected with the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, AFP reports.
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Following the clinics’ refusal to respond to the government’s request to make additional beds available to health services, “the ministry proceeds today (Friday) with the requisition of two clinics in Thessaloniki”, the ministry announced.
According to a ministerial source, the government has requested 200 extra beds.
“We are not prepared to take care of patients with covid-19,” complained the president of the Grigoris Sarafianos clinic union.
The number of infections with the new coronavirus in Thessaloniki is the highest in Greece, and hospitals in this city are facing shortages of beds.
Therefore, the government is forced to resort to the private sector, under a recent law, the ministry said in a statement.
The requisition is the result of a lack of “understanding between the state and the clinics,” the ministry said.
“The health system is under pressure and the next few weeks are critical. This pressure must be limited,” a government spokesman, Stelios Petsas, told ERT.
New measures have been taken in the north of the country due to the health situation.
The government has ordered the closure of the border post with Albania.
Apart from a negative 72-hour test required to enter the country, every traveler who wants to cross the border between Albania and Greece does a “quick test”.
To cope with the “critical situation” of the second wave of covid-19, the Greek government was forced to reintroduce the country in isolation – from November 7 until the end of the month – after which it imposed a ban on driving overnight, four days later, against the “tsunami” of the second wave, according to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Bypassed by the first wave of covid-19 compared to other EU member states, Greece has seen a sharp increase in cases since the end of September.
A month ago, Greece recorded only 667 infections and eight deaths from covid-19 per day.
In recent weeks, however, there has been a sharp increase in contamination and deaths.
On Thursday, authorities announced 59 deaths and over 3,000 cases in a single day.
The death toll from covid-19 has risen to 1,347 and infections to 85,261 since the start of the outbreak in Greece at the end of February.
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