Oncology Unit Syros Hospital and Syros Cancer Association
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English Translation
A four-member team representing the Mykonos Cancer Association made a day trip to Syros in late January.
The purpose of the trip was to visit the hospital's oncology unit and to meet with members of the Syros Cancer Association.
The oncologist, Dr. Despoina Geka and the oncological nurse informed the team that although she has been in Syros for two years for the purpose of serving patients, the unit is still not fully functional. The space to receive patients and administer treatment is ready to go but there are bureaucratic issues delaying the opening of the unit.
Three key factors are holding up the opening according to Dr. Geka.
The first is the establishment of a safe distillery in the hospital to prepare the medications, following all the necessary protocols, to give the patient the optimum results from the therapy.
The second is working with the EOPYY pharmacy or an approved private pharmacy to provide patient medications in a timely fashion for the chemotherapy to be effective. Some patients require a daily procedure. If the government pharmacy is only bringing medications once every two weeks or once a month this will not be helpful or effective for these patients.
The third factor delaying the process is that the hospital is on the wait for a new administrator. Until this individual arrives the above items cannot be addressed.
The oncologist has been in Syros for two years, following posts at Hpokrateio and Agios Savas in Athens. She is highly frustrated that so much time has lapsed and she is not able to treat patients in the unit.
The unit will be adding one more oncology nurse who is presently completing training to join the current team.
Mykonos Cancer Association members met later in the day with the Syros Cancer Association's leadership. The discussion focused on the challenges and victories both groups have encountered, how to work in a cooperative manner to help members of both groups and to view their office. The organization's headquarters, in central Ermoupolis, just steps off the waterfront, have been allocated by the Syros municipality