Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A Distinguished Group of British Lawmakers and Union Representatives visit MCCH




Helliniko 24 April 2013
PRESS RELEASE
A Distinguished Group of British Lawmakers and Union Representatives visit MCCH
On 23 April 2013 MCCH was visited by representatives of the Greece Solidarity Campaign.  The visitors included, journalists, British MP Andrew Love and Pilgrim Tucker, representative of the powerful Unite Union which represents the larger trade unions in the UK (public workers, nurses, firelighters etc.), representing more than four million workers.  The group was led by Isidoros Diakidis, member of the Haringey Council of London.
The visit was to explore Greece’s volunteer community clinics, understand how they have organized themselves, operate, and how they obtain the supplies and medications necessary for their operation.  They also wanted to see if these clinics are able to provide more advanced care for the uninsured, unemployed and those without resources – the patients of the volunteer community clinics.
Our visitors were frankly shocked to learn about the lack of health care for the unemployed and uninsured - especially the lack of coverage for expectant mothers, surgery etc. in the public hospitals.  In the UK all are covered by the National Health Service.  They also were impressed by the rapid increase of patient visits to MCCH in the last four months.
Our visitors informed us that they came to Athens with the aim to see for themselves how the Greek Public Health Service has gone wrong.  And of course, they want to contribute and assist the volunteer clinics under their campaign “Medical Aid Greece”.
We deeply thank our visitors for their interest and their expressions of solidarity.  And even more, we thank them for taking back to the UK the story of the plight of the public health system in Greece.