Helliniko 12
October 2012
It is with great pleasure that we announce our
first birth. On 12 October 2012 a
healthy baby girl was born with the help of the Metropolitan Community Clinic at
Helliniko (MCCH).
Two months ago, a couple came to the clinic
who not only did not have the ability to pay for the costs of childbirth, they
did not have the funds for any of the prenatal tests up to the seventh month of
pregnancy.
The couple's story is similar to hundreds
of patients we serve each month. Their shop
closed. With debts to the insurance fund,
the family was left without health insurance.
Their three-year-old boy had not even had his vaccinations. They applied to a public hospital which
denied them services as they could not pay.
Further, they did not offer the couple any alternative route to find
care.
MCCH contacted a private hospital which
bore the entire cost of prenatal care and childbirth. And that was how a healthy girl came into the
world.
The policies which led to our patient’s exclusion
from the public health system meant that a period that should be one of the
most beautiful in a woman’s life became a living nightmare.
The state has a duty to put an end to these
tragedies. All citizens should be given
access to the public health system. Until
that day, we will continue to do what we can to fill the gap.
