It is 4am on the emergency ward of Evangelismos general hospital -
the biggest in Greece - and the stream of patients is relentless. Dr
Michalis Samarkos has not stopped working since he started his shift
some 14 hours earlier, and he has been besieged by patients unable to
afford the tests or the drugs they need.
Many, like the unemployed diabetic man he has just examined, have gone without treatment for several days. "When you see a diabetic unable to afford his insulin you know he is going to die," says Samarkos. "There is no infrastructure to help these people. On every front the system has failed the people it was
Many, like the unemployed diabetic man he has just examined, have gone without treatment for several days. "When you see a diabetic unable to afford his insulin you know he is going to die," says Samarkos. "There is no infrastructure to help these people. On every front the system has failed the people it was
meant to serve."
Greeks are paying for their economic disaster with their health, according to a new study.In a letter to the Lancet medical journal, a team lead by Dr Alexander Kentikelenis and Dr David Stuckler from Cambridge University and Professor Martin McKee from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine warns of a potential "Greek tragedy". They point to
signs
of a dramatic decline in the health of the population and a
deterioration of services at hospitals under financial pressure.
Many
Greeks have lost access to healthcare coverage through work and social
security plans, and rising poverty levels mean growing numbers who
would previously have used the private sector are now flocking to
state hospitals. Alongside savage spending cuts, the rise has put an
immense strain on a chaotic and corrupt system that was already in
decline.Hospital budgets dropped by 40% between 2007 and 2009, say the Lancet authors. There are reports of understaffing, shortages of medical supplies and patients paying bribes to medical staff to jump queues.
"There are signs that health outcomes have worsened, especially in vulnerable groups,"
write
the experts. There was a 14% rise in the number of Greeks reporting
their health as "bad" or "very bad" between 2007 and 2009.
Suicides
rose by 17% during the same period, and unofficial 2010 data quoted
in parliament mention a 25% rise compared with 2009. The health
minister reported a 40% rise in the first half of 2011 compared with
the same period in 2010."The national suicide helpline reported that 25% of callers faced financial difficulties in 2010 and reports in the media indicate that the inability to repay high levels of personal debt might be a key factor in the increase in suicides," the Lancet authors write. "Violence has also risen, and homicide and theft rates nearly doubled between 2007 and 2009."
Their analysis is based on data from the EU
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