by Maria Spiliopoulou, Valentini Anagnostopoulou

LARISSA, Greece, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Despite efforts made in the past eight months to strengthen Greece's healthcare system in the battle against COVID-19, it is now nearing its limits as the second wave of the pandemic is hitting the country stronger, with new infections, deaths and intubated on the rise in recent weeks, Greek doctors have said.

"At the moment the healthcare system in our region is reaching its limits," Konstantinos Yannakopoulos, President of the Medical Association of Larissa, the capital of Thessaly region in central Greece, told Xinhua on Monday.

"Our region is in the red zone. The two intensive care units (ICUs) are already full. 20 beds in the general hospital and 14 in the university hospital, which is also a referral hospital, are occupied. When a patient is discharged or dies, the bed is used again very soon," said Yannakopoulos.

The city of Larissa is one of the areas with a heavy epidemiological load lately, according to official figures.

On Monday, the National Public Health Organization (EODY) reported 2,198 new infections within 24 hours, bringing the national total to 76,403 since the first case was diagnosed in the country on Feb. 26.

Furthermore, 400 patients, a new record high, were intubated across Greece, while since Sunday 59 people died, bringing the total to 1,165.

Currently, Greece has a total of 1,177 beds in ICUs, of which 263 are still available (22 percent), according to Health ministry sources on Monday.

In terms of ICU beds dedicated exclusively to COVID-19, there are a total of 588 beds nationwide, of which 125 are available (21 percent). The percentage drops in regions with heavier epidemiological load.

According to the same sources, Greece currently has 5,629 beds for confirmed COVID-19 cases (including ICUs, negative pressure chambers, and plain beds), and of these 3,527 are now occupied.

The number of ICU beds has doubled within a few months, while 7,000 hirings of medical personnel for public hospitals were made this year, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said on Monday during a regular press briefing in Athens.

Yannakopoulos and the doctors he represents acknowledge the efforts, but urge for more spending and hirings to further support the system and save lives.

The government and local medical associations mobilize private doctors to assist temporarily in public hospitals in addition to the services they provide all these months monitoring patients at home. Many have already responded positively.

"I believe that all together in one frontline, doctors in state hospitals and the private sector, we can avoid the collapse of the system at the moment. The need and demand for medical assistance are great. So far, we are coping quite well. I hope that we will tackle even more difficult situations by giving our best," Yannakopoulos told Xinhua.

Nikolaos Nitsas, President of the Medical Association of Thessaloniki, shared the same view.

"We are all here by the side of people because this is our role to help -- each one of us from his/her post as much as possible," he told Xinhua on Sunday.

Private doctors serve as an icebreaker at the moment, sparing hospitals from an extra load of patients who can be treated at home, he explained.

"Every day there are colleagues, nurses, and other employees in hospitals getting infected with the coronavirus," Nitsas added.

Focusing on his city Thessaloniki, Nitsas expressed concern that if the numbers of new cases keep rising, the system may collapse as it happened with the systems in some other European cities.

Greece entered a new full nationwide lockdown on Nov. 7 that is scheduled to last until Nov. 30 as part of efforts to curb the coronavirus spread.

Nitsas suggests even stricter measures for Thessaloniki, like suspending the operation of more public services.

He attributed the dramatic increase of infections in recent weeks to complacency after the successful management of the first wave. The doctor repeated a plea to citizens to stay home and limit movements to the minimum so that the numbers can decline. Enditem

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