…as from today we are all Greeks

Press Release

“…as from today we are all Greeks

On Tuesday, 5 November 2013 the cardiologist Dr. George Vichas, representing MCCH was officially invited to participate in the conference “Responding Together” organized by the Council of Europe jointly with the European Union.  Dr. Vichas participated in a workshop “How to create incentives to avoid waste and promote a better use of resources.”  He answered numerous questions on the organization and operation of the Metropolitan Community Clinic, the plight of the uninsured and those cut off from public health and the impact on the health of patients excluded from the public health system in our country.

His description of the situation in Greece today included the difficulty that even the insured experienced to afford a doctor or the medicines prescribed.  Often the medications are not available.  Dr. Vichas mentioned pregnant women who couldn’t find a hospital bed to give birth and who had received little or no pre-natal care.  He described cancer patients losing time in getting treatment and the often tragic result of uninsured patients who require hospitalization and advanced care.

He showed clearly and made the audience realize that the policies that are being followed at present are criminal and there are people who will one day have to answer for them.  It is not a time for complacency for European citizens who must realize by now that such policies are being deployed in many European countries.

Finally Dr. Vichas, one of the founders of MCCH, pointed out what for thousands of years Greeks have known; that when there is no political will to abolish a policy that is really criminal, we the people abolish it ourselves and take action to clearly show that we reject such a law.  He then stated “be sure that is what we do today” in doing our utmost to help those who are cut off from the public and national health systems.”

The reaction at the meeting was immediate.  There was a lot of interest and even anger.  Finally a lawyer from the European court wanted urgently to take the Greek case to the court.  But the president of the meeting selected only three of the many examples that had been voiced by Dr. Vichas to be studied at the higher levels of the European Committee and the European Parliament.

The most touching moment for our doctor was when, at the end of the meeting, he was surrounded by the members who approached him and said to him, with evident emotion, “As from today, we are all Greeks”

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CLINIC AT HELLENIKO 

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