Greece, public hospital staff to walk off job today

Greece's public hospital doctors and staff will be staging a work stoppage and rallies on Thursday in response to government plans to further cut spending in the healthcare sector -- already plagued by shortages and operational problems -- which they say will lead to the "destruction" of the National Health System. As daily Kathimerini reports, hospitals around the country will be working on a skeleton staff on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., while doctors and workers hold rallies in Athens at the Health Ministry on Aristotelous Street and in other parts of the country at local regional health authorities.