A cardiology patient in Heraklio, Crete, was slightly injured on Monday, when the section of a plasterboard ceiling collapsed on his head.
The patient of the Cardiology clinic of the Heraklion University General Hospital was sleeping during the incident and he was scheduled to undergo a heart surgery on the following day, Mega TV reported.
The patient suffered “minor abrasions to his forehead” and had to undergo a CT scan for preventive reasons, the hospital commander wrote in a letter to the commander to the commander of the 7th Regional Directorate of Crete.
The CT showed no pathological findings and the patient he appeared to be in good health, it was noted.
Local media reported that panic broke out among the six patients in the ward who were sleeping and believed there was an earthquake. The clinic staff rushed to the ward, with doctors to take care of the injured patient and the remaining to try to remove the water that had fell as well.
The incident occurred at 03:30 a.m. early on Monday morning, September 8.
It was a water leak from the toilet cistern flush on the floor above that caused part of the plaster false ceiling to collapse, fully exposing the pipes.
The hospital’s technical service immediately repaired the damage. activated, which determined repaired immediately.
The hospital workers’ union stressed that they “have warned many times about serious problems in the building infrastructure of the hospital,” as the union president said in a statement.
The union took advantage of the opportunity to criticize the state of the public health in Greece saying:
“The alarm bell has long rang for healthcare workers and patients about the building condition of hospitals. Our union had warned many times about the serious problems in the building infrastructure and their maintenance both due to age and the under-staffing of the technical service as well as the chronic under-funding.”
Stressing that similar incidents have occurred in the past, the union spoke of “government fiestas” when it comes to some innovations such as the Red Cross volunteers and the patients’ bracelets at the Emergencies, or renovations “with resources from the Recovery Fund” or donations, that, however, cannot cover up the policy of underfunding and understaffing, that is “gambling with the lives and safety of healthcare workers, patients and attendants” in the name of cuts and cost reduction.
