Are the benefits substantial or is it only about pure announcements of the Ministry of Health? Are the community clinics the target?

PRESS RELEASE

"Are the benefits substantial or is it only about pure announcements of the Ministry of Health? Are the community clinics the target?”

After two (2) years of silence, the Ministry of Health suddenly decided, end of August 2013, to introduce a new program for citizens who had no social security and had been left to their fate, namely the “health voucher”. The program applies to a small portion of uninsured citizens i.e. about 230,000 people. With duration of only two years, it offers a limited range of primary health care services – which are also docked – excluding any plan for the provision of medicines, the coverage of potential expensive medical examinations or the secondary health treatment in hospitals e.t.c.

All of a sudden, again, the Ministry of Health revealed on the 10^th of September a signed cooperation pact with the Medical Association of Athens (MAA), the Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE) and the Archdiocese, where it is agreed to provide poor and uninsured citizens with free medicines close to expiration date.

At the same time, hospitals in the country are closing, thousands of employees among doctors and the nursing stuff do not know if they will continue to be occupied; the Greek National Organization for Healthcare Provision is walking the tightrope, and no one knows whether it will continue to exist- at least in its today miserable state- or if it will become a mini contractor to distribute the healthcare services, people with health coverage are entitled, to private institutions. 

The Ministry of Health owes to fight for a solution to cover the weakest social groups as a total.  What it does instead today, is preannouncing programs that cover only a small portion of uninsured and poor citizens, followed by the involvement of the pharmaceuticals to provide them (as reported in the interview) with medicines six months before their expiration date, that is, medicines they can not distribute to the market.

We always quote examples, so, at this point, we would like to remind you of one of the most serious cases we have experienced with regard to the Ministry of Health: cancer patients, with no healthcare coverage were excluded from the Greek Public Health System and had been abandoned to their fate, till last year, when they took a breath of life and gained new hope for life in the oncology clinic of the Sotiria hospital. This was achieved thanks to the employees, who opened the gates of the hospital to the uninsured cancer patients, that is, they did ON THEIR OWN what the STATE REFUSED to do.  The question now is: Will the UNIQUE clinic that is open to the UNINSURED patients continue to operate? We hope that the new announcements will not have any impact on the Sotiria clinic’s operation. But, if our fears are verified, we would like to make clear that we will not give our consent. In such an unpleasant case, we are ready to inform and motivate all citizens to react with all means.  

Our doubts are substantiated by the  fact that the Ministry of Health has repeatedly lied in the past by claiming that all uninsured citizens have access to the Public Health System
(watch the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlXLLYopTsY with the former minister Andreas Lykourentzos as well as the following video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCT8B31x7U4 with the Representative of the Greek Ministry of Health, Mr. Panos Eustathiou).  Their false statements are proven by the poor measures they are taking. This is why citizens are wondering now about the Ministry of Health’s exact intentions in view of the introducement of the latest half measures. 

We, as a community clinic, continue to demand FREE access to the Greek National Health System for all citizens. Whoever attempts to cut down the right of all citizens for health, with the excuse of the semi-free access, or attempts to shut down the community clinics, and cut off the possibility of assisting the society in such crucial times, will surely find us against him. The community clinics constitute a LAST RESORT and do not aspire to give ground to political confrontations or the promotion of anybody’s political pursuits. 

Whoever attempts to take undue advantage of the solidarity and tries to use it against citizens will find us against him. We, as a community clinic, will not only intensify our fight, but we will also fight against the homicidal laws and policies in Health.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CLINIC AT HELLINIKON

OPERATING HOURS 
(MONDAY-FRIDAY 10:00-14:00) (MONDAY 17:00-20:00)
(TUESDAY 14:00-20:00) (WEDNESDAY 16:00-20:00) (THURSDAY 14:00-20:00)
(FRIDAY 14:00-19:00) (SATURDAY 10:00-14:00)
TELEPHONE: 210 9631950
Located within the former U.S. Air Force base (next to the Cultural Centre of Hellinikon, 200m away from the Traffic Police)
Blog http://mki-ellinikou.blogspot.com Email mkiellinikou@gmail.com