The Geneva University Hospital is cancelling operations and redeploying staff as it’s hit with an unprecedented absentee rate.
Around 15% of staff are off – many blaming exhaustion and burnout.
The normal absentee rate is 7%.
The hospital’s medical director, Arnaud Perrier, says the staff are tired due to the stresses of the pandemic, continual reorganisations at the hospital to deal with the demand and fears of their own health.
The union representative at the hospital, Sophie Grandi, says many staff are also exasperated at people not getting vaccinated and shunning masks.
But she also says Covid is not the only reason. Pressure has been building even before the pandemic as the medical system has to deal with an aging population and more complex conditions as well as budget cuts.
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