Press Release
The Social Trojan
Horse has Arrived
When we
issued the February press release entitled “Social Solidarity or Social TrojanHorse” we had in mind various community clinics and pharmacies which have
sprung up in municipalities throughout Greece and are financed by the
government and by the European Union. We
wrote then about some problems we foresaw based n what was happening around
us. These problems are no longer just thoughts
– they have appeared and we should all be aware of it.
The
creation of the National Network of Immediate Social Intervention (http://www.koinoniasos.gr/) is clearest
example of state sponsored hypocrisy. At
the same time that the Greek Public Health system is dissolving due to
underfunding, the government has arranged funding, together with the European
Union for organizations that barely come under the supervision of the Greek
Public Health System. The Network has
initial funding of €40 million. (read
more at http://www.step.gov.gr/item/index/id/88). This is happening at the same time when some
10’s of millions can’t be found for treatment and medication for 3 million of
our uninsured fellow citizens.
On the one hand IKA/EOPPY is much reduced
in its transformation to PEDY and the dismissal of half of the medical
staff. All public hospitals are
underfunded to the point that insured patients, like the indigent, are
not sure of finding their medication. On
the other hand, the government found 40 million to fund a network of specific
NGOS and support organizations within the municipalities to support those shut
out of the public health system. And
many of these semi-volunteer organizations have funding for only staff
salaries, which means the uninsured still have to seek sources for their
medication – usually at purely volunteer organizations, like ours.
In short,
the state decided not to strengthen the Greek Public Health System, but use its
precious funds (from both the national budget and from the European Union) to invest in unproven and new structures that
cannot provide the same quality of service as public health system and are certainly
not prepared to handle the huge volume handled by the Greek Public Health
System.
The Social
Trojan Horse is here and some will reap huge profits off all the rest of
us. The 3 million unemployed are still
left in the wind and await assistance. With
the €40 million, the true voluntary community clinics and pharmacies could
finance medication needs for the unemployed for a great long while. Patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes
must continue to suffer on.
Unemployed cancer
patients have only one source of help, the Cancer Clinic at Sotiria Hospital
where the doctors and medical staff VOLUNTARILY give their time and provide chemotherapy
to those in need (with no help from the state).
Disabled patients, who are insured, are trapped in their homes because
the resources that supported them (home care services) have either been
underfunded or abolished altogether. The
Center for Certifying Disability (KEPA) can take months to complete their
admittedly difficult task, because of a shocking lack of medical
resources. As mentioned above, all the
public hospitals are severely underfunded and are operating on the very verge of
collapse. Those insured have seen their
co-pays increase for medications (in some cases 50%) (read more here http://www.mkiellinikou.org/2014/05
/ 21/farmaka /) – in Greek.
The
repeated recommendations for Greece from the European Parliaments (read here)
and the Council of Europe (read here) and more recently by the International
Labor Organization (read here) haven’t had effect in our country despite the
fact that we find ourselves in the 6th year of economic crisis.
How many
more victims have to stack up before the authorities adopt what are, by now,
obvious measures? Open the Greek Public
Health system to all the uninsured and fund it to a level that it can carry out
its mission.
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CLINIC AT HELLINIKO
Working Hours
(MONDAY - FRIDAY 10:00 - 20:00) and (SATURDAY 10:00 - 14:00)
CONTACT PHONE NUMBER: +30 210 9631950
ADDRESS: Inside the old American Military Base, 200m away from the Traffic Police of the Municipality of Helleniko, next to the Cultural Center of Helleniko
Post code TK16777, Elliniko, Attiki, Greece
Blog http://mkie-foreign.blogspot.gr/ Email mkiellinikou@gmail.com
Working Hours
(MONDAY - FRIDAY 10:00 - 20:00) and (SATURDAY 10:00 - 14:00)
CONTACT PHONE NUMBER: +30 210 9631950
ADDRESS: Inside the old American Military Base, 200m away from the Traffic Police of the Municipality of Helleniko, next to the Cultural Center of Helleniko
Post code TK16777, Elliniko, Attiki, Greece
Blog http://mkie-foreign.blogspot.gr/ Email mkiellinikou@gmail.com
