Dear Editors,

Shortages in Greek public hospitals are so acute that directors are accepting donations of pharmaceuticals from private citizens and multinational Pharmaceutical Companies to get by!

In Crete, Novartis has already donated a year’s supplies in antihypertensive drugs.

There exist daily deaths due to drug shortages in Greek public hospitals! [1]

This is a humanitarian state of emergency.

References

[1] http://investmentwatchblog.com/daily-deaths-due-to-acute-shortages-in-gr...

Competing interests: Dr Stavros Saripanidis is a diligent taxpayer who has been financing Greek public Hospitals for years. He is outraged to see such extreme and humiliating shortages. Public managers in Greek public Hospitals must answer where all those billions of State funds went.

It is not so much the 5euro fee, required by all those visiting the primary care medical practices of public hospitals, that limits access to healthcare. It's all the other measures which, when examined in their totality, have as result the avoidance/delay to visit a doctor, to stop following a prescribed therapy or making the necessary diagnostic test, or even to avoid a hospitalization by fear to lose a job during hospital stay.... I explain:

- cancer patients had till last year zero co-payment for medicines and diagnostic tests, now there is a 15% co-payment for diagnostic tests (helas, cancer patients make expensive blood and imaging tests!)
- cancer medicines are available only through hospital pharmacies following a lengthy bureaucratic procedure and not through pharmacies as it was the case before. This means many hours in queuing every month at the few such pharmacies and visiting for authorizations more than one public services..
- many on the medicines that were previously included in the positive list (medicines refunded by social insurance) are now moved into the negative list such as medicines taken for the relief of chemotherapy side effects
- cancer patients as a result of treatments may have more than one other disease for which they are treated and tested, and for which they have to co-pay for medicines and tests
- special food preparations for cancer patients with cachexia are in the negative list
- various disposable supplies for patients such gloves, paper, nappies, etc. are not covered by social insurance.
- fees for a private night shift nurse have been limited as to the number of nights and to the justified fee;patients and carers have to cover the balance..
etc.
If the full list of extra costs in healthcare is appended here and together with it the drastic cuts in salaries, pensions and disability allowances (which for many are their sole income) plus the huge increases in direct and indirect taxation and the steadily increasing cost of living, it is easily understood why access to healthcare is not prohibited by the 5euro ticket but from the sum of all above...

Competing interests: None declared

Competing interests: Dr Stavros Saripanidis is a diligent taxpayer who has been financing Greek public Hospitals for years. He is outraged to see such extreme and humiliating shortages. Public managers in Greek public Hospitals must answer where all those billions of State funds went.

Dear Editors,

I am reporting here some recent headlines from Greek newspapers.

All Athens’ Children’s Public Hospitals demand directly from patients 30,000 euro in advance in order to perform vital transplantations: State money is not enough.

Hospitalized patients in the Public Sector are asked to bring their own pharmaceuticals, since there aren’t any left in Hospital Pharmacies: suppliers stopped providing pharmaceuticals on credit because Public Hospitals already owe them billions.

Overstressed nurses in Public Hospitals faint while on duty.

Breast Cancer Women’s Charity “Alma Zois” reports extreme shortages in basic oncological drugs in Public Hospitals.

Entire Regions in rural Greece are left without Specialty doctors: State wages are too low to attract them.

Hospital doctors started to demand gold coins and not cash for informal payments: cash can be traced by police forces…

Ambulance employees for years have been systematically filling their family vehicles with gasoline that was charged to their Hospital ambulance.

In only one year, controls have discovered 700,000,000 euro worth of fake prescriptions.

Despite extreme austerity measures and constant IMF-EU-ECB supervision, Public Hospitals in Greece continue to accumulate debt! [1]

Widespread corruption should be addressed effectively.

Reference

[1] Greek Hospitals produce every year debt exceeding Hospital total market value, Stavros Saripanidis’ Rapid Response in:

http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4870?tab=responses

Competing interests: Dr Stavros Saripanidis is a diligent taxpayer who is called to pay for Hospital expenditures but his money evidently finances widespread corruption.