ATHENS, October 2026 — Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis has rejected claims that a faulty Kythnos ambulance played a part in the death of a 62-year-old man at an island taverna.
The man suffered a cardiac arrest at the taverna on Kythnos, in the Cyclades. Despite efforts to save him, he did not recover; he reportedly had a history of heart problems.
However, the minister’s account clashes with that of the man’s relatives. They said the Kythnos ambulance took an hour to arrive, while Georgiadis put the response at 25 minutes.
In a post on X on Sunday 11 October, Georgiadis said a television program had shown a photo of an old, decommissioned ambulance. That vehicle was not the one that answered the call, he said.
Two conflicting accounts
“For the record, the ambulance arrived in 25 minutes, the calls are recorded and available to anyone, and the doctor had a defibrillator with her,” Georgiadis said.
He added that oxygen was also available. The ambulance had passed its KTEO roadworthiness test two months earlier, had new tyres and had a recent service, he said.
Such misinformation undermines public trust in the national health system, known as ESY, the minister said.
The man’s relatives gave a different picture in the same television report. When he felt unwell, they said, they called EKAB, the National Centre for Emergency Care, straight away.
EKAB then alerted the island’s multi-purpose health centre, they said. Even so, the Kythnos ambulance arrived about an hour after the first call, according to their account.
“We waited one hour for an ambulance. There was no equipment at all,” a friend of the man said.
Kythnos ambulance call records
Three calls to EKAB appear in a published photo of the call log. The first came at 9:44pm and lasted 35 seconds.
Two shorter calls followed, at 10:04pm for 16 seconds and then at 10:10pm for 20 seconds.
In a later post, Georgiadis said callers first dialled 166, the EKAB number, although EKAB does not operate on the island. The recordings prove the 25-minute response, he said.
EKAB runs ambulance services across the country and took on 158 new paramedics in October 2025.
Georgiadis heads the Ministry of Health, which oversees EKAB. Still, the two accounts of the Kythnos ambulance response remain at odds.
(Source: Ta Nea)
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Kosta Papadopoulos
Kosta Papadopoulos is an editor at Greek City Times, covering Greek and international news, travel, sport, and entertainment.