Recruitment of personnel for Corfu EKAB progressing slowly for years
Archive photo / Enimerosi
17 Jan 2023
/ 22:02
CORFU. EKAB Vice President Panayiotis Koutsoubelis: 20 permanent positions will be advertised to staff the Corfu EKAB that will solve the problem permanently.
The staffing of the Corfu EKAB is progressing slowly, despite the promises made for years to strengthen it, when the time that passes is putting human lives at risk. Permanent staff recruitment has not been made for many years now, while EKAB's reinforcement with auxiliary staff is not enough to cover the increased needs throughout the island.
The recent incident with the injury of a 20-year-old footballer during the match between Kavos and AO Kerkyra last Saturday and his transfer to the Lefkimmi Health Center in a farm trailer, as the EKAB base in South Corfu did not operate due to lack of personnel, brought once again the serious problems of understaffing to the forefront.
According to the Corfu Ambulance Service (EKAB) Employees Union Christos Kypriotis, the crew currently consists of 33 people. However, the needs are much more than that.
"In order to approve the creation of an EKAB base in North Corfu we are asking for 15 more people in addition to the existing ones. As far as the base in South Corfu is concerned, it has 8 people, but in order for it to operate properly it needs 11 people. Therefore, the base there operates only some days of the month due to lack of personnel," Mr. Kypriotis told Enimerosi.
As he said, the EKAB was reinforced two years ago with about 10 people due to the pandemic, while recently 5 more positions for auxiliary staff were approved, of which, however, only two were filled, as a third position concerned a contract renewal. "We have been hearing promises for the strengthening of Corfu EKAB for years. The problem is that these promises have reached a dangerous point," he pointed out.
20 positions
Even though EKAB's management is aware of the understaffing problem, the planning for its full staffing has been very slow for years with all that entails for public health and the serious risks to the lives of our fellow humans.
Mr. Koutsoubelis said that with the recruitment of 20 permanent employees for the Corfu EKAB, which will be included in the Ministry of Health's advertisement for permanent health personnel, the problem will be solved permanently.
"Due to the memoranda, permanent recruitment had not been made for many years, while the provisions that were then in force for recruitment made the situation even worse. The employees are worried for the permanent staff. However, even if these positions are filled by the existing auxiliary staff, the positions remaining for the recruitment of new staff are sufficient to staff a full sector," he explained.
He also said that there was not always the expected response from auxiliary staff, due to the increased cost of living in Corfu. For the same reason, there was no interest in transfers from another region in order to reinforce the Corfu EKAB. "We have exhausted all possibilities. But as soon as the tender takes place, the problem of understaffing will be solved very soon," he commented.
€11.5 million
According to the Deputy Regional Governor Melita Andrioti, the Ionian Islands Region has allocated €11.5 million from the ESPA programme to the Ministry of Health for the recruitment of auxiliary staff in all health structures in the Ionian Islands for all specialties - including EKAB. She said that based on the data of February 2022, a total of 175 auxiliary staff had been recruited in all Regional Units.
The ambulances
Regarding the invitation for tenders for the supply of 18 ambulances in the Ionian Islands with funding from the ESPA 2014-2020 programme, Mr. Koutsoubelis stressed that the Region has modified the budget due to the price increases (it is now at €1,736,000) and that this time EKAB's tender will not be unsuccessful.
The recent incident with the injury of a 20-year-old footballer during the match between Kavos and AO Kerkyra last Saturday and his transfer to the Lefkimmi Health Center in a farm trailer, as the EKAB base in South Corfu did not operate due to lack of personnel, brought once again the serious problems of understaffing to the forefront.
According to the Corfu Ambulance Service (EKAB) Employees Union Christos Kypriotis, the crew currently consists of 33 people. However, the needs are much more than that.
"In order to approve the creation of an EKAB base in North Corfu we are asking for 15 more people in addition to the existing ones. As far as the base in South Corfu is concerned, it has 8 people, but in order for it to operate properly it needs 11 people. Therefore, the base there operates only some days of the month due to lack of personnel," Mr. Kypriotis told Enimerosi.
As he said, the EKAB was reinforced two years ago with about 10 people due to the pandemic, while recently 5 more positions for auxiliary staff were approved, of which, however, only two were filled, as a third position concerned a contract renewal. "We have been hearing promises for the strengthening of Corfu EKAB for years. The problem is that these promises have reached a dangerous point," he pointed out.
20 positions
Even though EKAB's management is aware of the understaffing problem, the planning for its full staffing has been very slow for years with all that entails for public health and the serious risks to the lives of our fellow humans.
Mr. Koutsoubelis said that with the recruitment of 20 permanent employees for the Corfu EKAB, which will be included in the Ministry of Health's advertisement for permanent health personnel, the problem will be solved permanently.
"Due to the memoranda, permanent recruitment had not been made for many years, while the provisions that were then in force for recruitment made the situation even worse. The employees are worried for the permanent staff. However, even if these positions are filled by the existing auxiliary staff, the positions remaining for the recruitment of new staff are sufficient to staff a full sector," he explained.
He also said that there was not always the expected response from auxiliary staff, due to the increased cost of living in Corfu. For the same reason, there was no interest in transfers from another region in order to reinforce the Corfu EKAB. "We have exhausted all possibilities. But as soon as the tender takes place, the problem of understaffing will be solved very soon," he commented.
€11.5 million
According to the Deputy Regional Governor Melita Andrioti, the Ionian Islands Region has allocated €11.5 million from the ESPA programme to the Ministry of Health for the recruitment of auxiliary staff in all health structures in the Ionian Islands for all specialties - including EKAB. She said that based on the data of February 2022, a total of 175 auxiliary staff had been recruited in all Regional Units.
The ambulances
Regarding the invitation for tenders for the supply of 18 ambulances in the Ionian Islands with funding from the ESPA 2014-2020 programme, Mr. Koutsoubelis stressed that the Region has modified the budget due to the price increases (it is now at €1,736,000) and that this time EKAB's tender will not be unsuccessful.
