Press Release
The Greek Ministry of Health
Doesn’t Recognize its own Guidelines,
The Health of Four Hepatitis Patients
Left to Chance
The public perception
of the health sector in the last few years has been of a Health Ministry managed
by those following a callous policy of placing numbers and budget concerns
before public health. Is it possible
that this is the kinder interpretation of what’s going on?
On 11 March 2014, MCCH
sent an urgent letter to the Greek Health Ministry. This was followed on the 27th of
March by an appeal to help four uninsured and unemployed patients with
hepatitis. The public hospitals will not
treat them unless they pay for their treatment. These four came to our clinic for help. And we did everything we could to find help
within the system to get them the treatment needed. That turned out to be impossible.
The Odyssey started on
11 March with the Ministry of Health. In
addition to the appeals we made, we contacted three different officials in the
Ministry to whom we explained that this was a matter of public health. You can read all the detail of this exchange
here (in Greek).
One official we
contacted told us that medicatio
ns would be found for the patients. Another told us to get in direct contact with
the drug companies and the third contacted us simply to say what a wonderful
job the Ministry of Health is doing….without telling us what they could do for
our four hepatitis patients.
A few days ago we were
informed by the NGO “Praksis” that based on a circular issued by the Greek
Ministry of Health (ADA B49KTH-55P, dated 02/05/2012 marked Extremely Urgent)
which you can find here (in Greek) the Ministry of Health informs the
administration of public hospitals that the uninsured and destitute (Greeks and
immigrants) are entitled to COST-FREE access to the Greek Public Health System
when their health is severely compromised, or if they have been infected by
HIV/AIDS or other severe infectious diseases.
In short, the Greek Ministry of Health has
given very clear orders that they have not carried out, let alone the
administrators of the public hospitals!!
Furthermore, the Greek Ministry of Health
in a written response to question from parliament, (Protocol number 115406
dated 10/04/2014 – i.e. exactly one month after our first letter regarding the four
hepatitis patients) – which you can read here (in Greek) – say exactly the same
thing as the circular referred to above.
So how is it that officials of the Ministry
of Health can ignore their own guidelines and their own answers to Parliament?
We can only conclude that either the officials
of the Ministry of Health are so uninformed of their own policies that the
lives of citizens are recklessly endangered on a daily basis, or they ARE aware
of these guidelines and knowingly ignore them.
In either case about the kindest word you can use is “incompetent.” Whichever the case, this situation must be
investigated immediately. And what is
our Minister of Health going to do about such a serious issue?
How is it possible that our Minister of
Health has appeared in the media stating that he will help 2.5 million
uninsured (the true number is 3 million uninsured, based on numbers from The
National Organization of Health Providers-EOPPY) by the end of 2013 and did
not. And now, he can’t find a solution
for only four (!) uninsured citizens whose lives are in danger. Why can’t a solution for this problem be
found?
Why declare that solutions will be found
AFTER elections?
We simply present the facts and expect
answers from those “responsible” in the Ministry of Health.
Our four patients will go to a public
hospital and request assistance. They
will have the circular stating government guidelines with them. We can only hope they won’t face any
problems…
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
