A Greek Navy cardiologist saved two Turkish tourists from heart attacks on the island of Lesbos last week, performing em...

A Greek Navy cardiologist saved two Turkish tourists from heart attacks on the island of Lesbos last week, performing emergency angioplasty on both men after doctors determined they could not survive a transfer to Turkish hospitals. Anastasios Milkas, a commander in the Hellenic Navy serving at the Naval Hospital in Athens, flew to Mytilene on Tuesday, September 22, where he operated on 52-year-old Güney and 62-year-old Tutsay. The two men had suffered acute myocardial infarctions on consecutive days the previous week while vacationing on Lesbos with their families. Both were cleared for discharge and set to return to Turkey by Friday. Milkas has been making regular trips between Athens and Lesbos for five years, logging more than 220 return flights to perform interventional cardiology procedures at the island's hemodynamics laboratory. He earned the nickname "the flying heart doctor" for it. Over those five years, the lab has carried out around 1,500 coronary angiographies, with angioplasty performed on approximately 800 patients. Milkas told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency that the program has led to a measurable reduction in deaths, and significantly cut the number of patients who previously had to be airlifted to Athens for cardiac care. The cardiology team at Mytilene Hospital, led by department director Panagiotis Andronikos, kept both Turkish patients stable in the infarction unit while the transfer to Turkey was ruled out. Andronikos and colleagues Vasilis Kikilis, Ignatis Arvanitelllis, and Yannis Dernellis worked alongside Milkas throughout the process. Lesbos has seen more than 100,000 Turkish visitors so far in 2026, making the island one of the most popular short-trip destinations for Turkish tourists in the Aegean. #Greece #Lesbos #GreekNews