Heraklion: 20-year-old student out of intensive care

The 20-year-old University of Crete student who was seriously injured in a road crash outside the Foundation for Research and Technology in Heraklion has come out of the Intensive Care Unit after 34 days of treatment. The development was announced by Professor Yannis Tzitzikas of the Computer Science Department, according to a report in the newspaper Nea Kriti. The crash had happened on Thursday 16 July on Nikolaou Plastira street, when two vehicles collided and one of them overturned, striking the student who had just left the Foundation heading towards the University. The young woman had been treated intubated at the University General Hospital of Heraklion and underwent multiple operations, while part of her treatment was carried out at the Attikon hospital.

The professor said in his announcement that the student came out of intensive care the previous day, after a stay of 34 days and many operations, adding: “I want to believe that the hardest part is over.” As is noted, the next stage is rehabilitation, that is the gradual recovery of strength, mobility, the ability to feed herself and independence. This phase as a rule follows any prolonged stay in intensive care, where immobility and mechanical ventilation lead to a significant loss of muscle mass. Its duration depends on the severity of the injuries and may require weeks or months in specialised physical medicine and rehabilitation units.

Beyond the course of the student’s health, the case opened a discussion about road safety in the area. A pavement has now been built at the site of the crash on the opposite side of the road, yet a pedestrian crossing is still missing, even though students and staff move daily between the Foundation, the University and the University Hospital. The professor proposes the establishment of a “Protocol for Investigating Road Infrastructure after a serious crash”, that is a compulsory technical assessment of the site every time a serious accident occurs, so that weaknesses in the infrastructure are identified and corrected and not only the responsibility of drivers. The Foundation, the University Hospital and the university faculties make up, in the Voutes area, one of the largest research complexes in the country, with thousands of people travelling there daily.

The authorities have not announced the findings of the Traffic Police on the causes of the collision between the two vehicles, nor whether criminal proceedings have been brought against either of the two drivers. Nor has it become known whether the Municipality of Heraklion has planned the installation of a pedestrian crossing or other speed reduction measures on that stretch. Nikolaou Plastira street serves one of the largest research and health complexes in Crete and traffic there is heavy all year round. The identity of the injured woman is not given in full in this text, since she is a private individual involved in a road crash. The student’s condition remains serious but stable, and no announcement has been made about how long she will stay in a rehabilitation facility.