Cardiological Center expands services to become fully digitized Onassis Hospital

Journalists were given a tour of the renewed premises at the main unit, which was fully renovated and supplied with new, state-of-the-art medical equipment. A new building is housing the Onassis National Transplant Center and the Onassis Children's Hospital. The refurbishing has turned the hospital into the first fully digitized hospital in Greece.

Hospital capacity includes 185 beds (from 131, formerly), 54 ICU beds (from 36), 4 conventional surgery rooms, 2 hybrid surgeries (from 0), and 4 haemodynamic labs (from 3).

New machines

The Onassis Foundation has spent 82 million euros since 2019, and continues to provide over 10 million euros in investments over the coming years, in the context of the project "Hospital of the Future", to provide funding for over 50 innovations. The greater part of the funding has been allocated to the new building, which comprises four floors beyond the ground floor, while 25 million euros have been spent on the latest medical equipment.
Foundation President Antonis Papadimitriou called it "a hospital for all," after the tour of the premises for journalists.

New technologies and digital infrastructure include CT and magnetic resonance scanners (SOMATOM Drive, MAGNETOM Sola), real-time 3D imaging for vascular and heart surgeries (ARTIS icono Biplane), robotic vascular system for complicated surgeries (ARTIS Pheno), cardiological ultrasound systems (ACUSON Origin), and a portable X-ray machine (MOBILETT Elara Max) that can be used even in ICUs.

The primary purpose of the digitized hospital is to reduce the time a patient spends in it and to improve clinical data so that doctors can gain a faster and more accurate comprehensive idea of the results of a therapeutic approach, Papadimitriou said. In addition, a portal of communication will provide patients with access to their medical file and the online ability to set up an appointment.

Transplants, children's hospital

In terms of transplants, the Onassis Hospital will facilitate the effort for more donations and transplants of full organs by cooperating with the Hellenic Transplant Organization, which oversees the National Strategy in transplants. Beyond the heart and lung transplants that exclusively take place at the Onassis Hospital at national level, the hospital will also carry out kidney transplants on children of low weight from a living donor (usually a parent). Up to now, these were carried out only abroad, Onassis Hospital President Ioannis Boletis said. Future plans include liver transplants to children from living donors. 

The Onassis Hospital is cooperating closely with state hospitals in Greece (Attikon, Laiko, Kyriakou Children's Hospital) for kidney transplants. This is part of a strategy announced by the Onassis Foundation five years ago, that a large national network of transplants will be set up, allowing Greece to meet its needs independently, Boletis said.