Galery

1

Anastasia Balezdrova

The Greek police arrested 14 women who had illegally worked as nurses in "Evangelismos" hospital in Athens. According to the official announcement of the authorities, members of the office for foreigners had carried out checks on the night of 30 January and found in different wards 12 foreigners, including two Bulgarian and two Greek women who did not have the documents required to work as nurses.

A pre-trial file against the women has been prepared and it is expected that the tax authorities and the National Insurance Institute IKA will impose administrative fines and penalties on them too.

GRReporter contacted for comment head of the Office of Labour and Social Affairs at the Embassy of Bulgaria in Athens Ekaterina Dimitrova who explained the violation of the arrested women.

"Only qualified medical personnel, i.e. people who studied nursing and whose qualifications must be recognized in Greece, can work as nurses. Every hospital in the country has an office for the medical staff, where these women register by submitting the necessary documents, namely a recognized diploma and licence to practise the particular profession."

In her words, nurses are freelancers and issue a receipt for the services rendered, which is the basis for their taxation. They are obliged to pay social insurance contributions too.

According to the expert, the payment for nursing services is very good. Obviously, this is the reason for the high interest in the profession.

"As far as I know the pay is in the range of 80-100 euro a day and the wages paid for night shifts are even higher," said Ms. Dimitrova. She added that the services rendered by nurses from Bulgaria are particularly appreciated. "Many of the women who legally work as nurses have been able to buy even small houses in Greece," she said.

The women arrested on Thursday night will face the legal sanctions. The operation carried out by the office for foreigners was part of a series of such checks of illegal employees in different sectors in order to eliminate the informal employment.

GRReporter recalls that members of Golden Dawn had undertaken to do so a year earlier. Dozens of them, led by the party deputy from the Peloponnese, had raided the hospital in Tripoli to find foreigners who worked as nurses.

The case had gained publicity after the hospital director had talked to, and later had taken part in a joint news conference with, the Golden Dawners. In her statements she had pointed out that her discussion with the far right was in the right direction. "Our path is common. We all are of the opinion that it is not possible for people who are paid by illegal means to work in hospitals."

Her statements as well as the revelations that the Golden Dawners had carried out their "check" with her ​​permission and undisturbed had led to her dismissal by the Minister of Health of the time.

According to journalist from the online media Arcadiaportal.gr Eleni Traka, the local union of nurses had initiated the whole thing. They had often complained to institutions such as the Workers' Centre in Tripoli, the National Insurance Institute and the office combating financial crime that foreign women had been working without the required documents thus undercutting the wages.