The Hellenic National Public Health Organization (EODY) has teamed up with a non-government organisation, to bring coronavirus testing to Greece's remote islands that are cut off from medical facilities.
Providing inflatable boats, crews and medical staff, NGO Symplefsi will ferry mobile EODY teams to the islands of Milos, Kimolos, Folegandros and Sikinos next Monday and Tuesday, where, in cooperation with the local municipal authorities, they will take swabs from vulnerable residents and question them on their contacts.
The program will be expanded over the following weeks to reach more remote islands in the Aegean Sea, where medical services are basic and residents who are elderly or have mobility problems are unable to reach facilities in the capital or bigger islands.
Symplefsi will also be responsible for shuttling the swabs back to the capital, where they will be tested for SARS-CoV-2.
EODY has assured that doctors and other staff participating in the program will be tested before every mission to ensure that they are not bringing the virus to vulnerable communities.
