Thousands of patients in Greece are at risk of losing their lives as the country grapples with a deepening healthcare crisis, Press TV reports.
Some 5,000 patients die every year in Greece due to a lack of medical insurance, according to the Greek doctors’ union.
Greece has been at the epicenter of the eurozone debt crisis and is experiencing its sixth year of recession. The country has had to adopt harsh austerity measures, including the laying off of large numbers of government employees.
Data provided by charity clinics in the country shows that the number of austerity-stricken cancer patients seeking treatment in the clinics is on the rise.
Giorgos Vixas, the director of the Metropolitan Social Clinic in Athens, told Press TV that around 130 cancer patients attended the clinic in 2012.
He added that many of the patients went to the clinic a few months after the initial diagnosis of their disease.
“It is apparent that the determining psychogenic factors here were the violent change of lifestyle, losing one’s job and medical coverage,” Vixas stated.
The Metropolitan Social Clinic, with only 100 doctors, has treated 17,000 patients over the past two years.
Many austerity-hit people in Greece cannot afford medicine since the average monthly wage is around 600 euros.
Millions in Greece have no access to medical or pharmaceutical treatment while over three million are set to lose healthcare due to failed businesses and job losses.
One in every five Greek workers is currently unemployed, banks are in a shaky position, and pensions and salaries have been slashed by up to 40 percent.
A newly-released report by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that about half of the new HIV infections reported in Greece were self-inflicted “to enable people to receive benefits of 700 euros per month and faster admission” to drug-substitution programs.
MR/HSN/HJL
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