Health and living conditions are headed down as the Greek tragedy widens within the bounds of that tortured land. Evictions are becoming more and more common as unemployment rises. In excess of 55% of youth are unemployed, and adult rates are moving inexorably upward. Coupling civilian agonies with recent layoffs and military personnel strikes, we see governmental services and infrastructure melting away. The hole in which the unfortunate Greeks find themselves is deep and wide. What is the solution that will bring them back out into the sunlight? We await more austerity cuts as the government tries to keep the ship afloat as it takes further measures to meet conditions imposed by the EUCB.
At least 67,000 businesses will go bankrupt in 2012 alone. The unemployment rate has reached 24 percent.Hunger and shortages are spreading. Some are asking if Greece is already a "failed state."http://www.blackchristiannews.com/news/2012/09/greece-faces-total-state-meltdown.html
“There are no jobs,” he explains. He recently lost work earning $6 an hour unloading boxes at a clothing store and often sleeps in the park. “Now look at me,” he said, choking back tears pointing at the plastic bag in which he carries all his belongings.
Many migrants try to leave Greece despite the difficulty of crossing borders. Some gather in the port city of Patras to try to sneak onto ships leaving for Italy. Last spring, a group of rioters wearing motorcycle helmets and wielding sticks attacked an abandoned factory in the city that had become a makeshift dwelling for many such migrants.
Other doctors’ associations gathered outside the health Ministry and demanded to be paid claiming payments for at lest two months.
Greek health care sector is deteriorating quicker than the public debt with the health ministry to be drawn in outstanding payments: to personnel, suppliers, pharmacies and private doctors.
To this come shortages in material and personnel.
And other debts like to Public Electricity Company: a unit assigned to DEH (PPC) cut the electricity at the Kidney Centre on the island of Aigina, despite the fact that patients were undergoing dialysis at that moment. Theprocess of blood purification continued with the help of the health centre’s own generator.
"What the pharmacists say is true. We owe money to the pharmacists, the pharmaceutical companies and generally all the suppliers of the national health system," he said.
The healthcare service cuts are part of broader austerity plans Greece must push through -- including cuts of 11.5 billion euros [$15 billion] -- if it is to receive its next tranche of bailout cash.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/18/business/greece-health-care-cuts/index.html
