Two New Consultants For Caithness General

27th March 2013

Who would move from sunny Greece to occasionally chilly Caithness?

For Dr Petros Karsaliakos, the weather barely featured in his decision to move to Wick.

“The weather has its own advantages and disadvantages,” he said. “And there is nowhere in the world that is heaven or hell. People can adapt very well to cold weather – and many people don’t realise that it can be cold in Greece too. There a place there where the temperature can drop to minus 30!”

After spending just a few days in Wick, where he has found temporary accommodation, how has he finding things?

“There is a very beautiful environment here,” he said, adding without a touch of irony: “The combination of the sea, the Gothic buildings and the river … it’s like being inside a fairy tale.”

Dr Karsaliakos, who confessed to being a bit wary about driving in the UK, added that he had yet to travel around Caithness but had enjoyed “extensive walks” in the area and found much to admire.

“Greeks and Scots have many common things in their personality: they are open, kind, polite and straight,” he said, adding when asked about the Scots diet: “Well, I haven’t eaten out yet.”

However, he has done his research on Wick, using local websites, Wikipedia – and the pages of the John O’Groat Journal.

Aged 40, Dr Karsaliakos was educated at a medical university in Greece and worked in two of the country’s largest hospitals. In 2010, he accepted a directorship in general medicine in a brand-new hospital in Albania, and worked there for one and a half years before returning to work in a hospital in Athens.

“I am pleased I will be pursuing my career in Caithness,” he said, adding that he had sought advice from compatriots who had studied in Scotland. “This job fits me very well.”

He added that he hoped that his wife, a microbiologist, and his three children, aged two, five and six, would be joining him in the next few months.

“They were with me when I was Albania and I am sure they will be happy here in Wick,” he said.

Settling a family in a new area won’t be a problem for his Greek colleague, Dr Nikolaos Zakynthinakis-Kyriakou (35), who is single.

Like Dr Karsaliakos, he has left a country ravaged by economic woes.

“I have come here because I want to have a permanent job,” he said. “I want to care for patients and in Greece that wasn’t possible for me just now. I love my job, but in Greece, there may be only 20 positions available every three or four months, so I had to look at working somewhere else.”

Caithness attracted him, he said, because he was brought up in a rural community.

“My home was in a very small village, so I do not have a problem living in a place like Wick,” he said, adding: “The only difference is the cold!”

Dr Zakynthinakis-Kyriakou graduated from a university in Romania and practised medicine in a rural community before doing his one-year national service in a naval hospital. From there, he spent four years in general medicine as a doctor in a hospital in a large town in northern Greece.

He had never been to the UK before and spent a lot of time on the internet, finding out about Scotland in general and Wick in particular.

“I like trail running, and I have think that it’s a good area for running,” he said.

He has spent one week at Caithness General Hospital and is currently completing his induction at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

“I want to learn as much as possible about the protocols at work,” he said. “You work in a different way than in Greece. You are very organised here, with a lot of effective bureaucracy. It is good here, and I am looking forward to starting work and helping patients.”

The two Greek doctors didn’t know each other prior to coming to Scotland, and have met only fleetingly.

“I think I am very lucky to be working with another Greek in Wick,” said Dr Zakynthinakis-Kyriakou.