In Greece, a public health system still in disarray

In 2011, cardiologist Giorgos Vichas and six colleagues opened a social clinic in Ellinikon, the southern suburb of Athens, to meet the needs of the thousands of long-term unemployed who, lacking health insurance, were no longer admitted free of charge to the public hospital. When, in 2015, the left-wing government (Syriza) passed a law allowing the readmission of the uninsured to public hospitals, the Ellinikon clinic became less essential. But public institutions quickly found themselves in difficulty. "For the long-term unemployed, this reform was a step forward. But the problem is that the funding provided by the state to cover the care of these additional people is not sufficient. As a result, hospitals are in debt and lack everything..." , the cardiologist emphasizes.

So much so that, even after 2015, regulars continued to come to the Ellinikon clinic because "they still felt stigmatized at the public hospital, they still didn't have access to certain overpriced medications, and the waiting times for treatment were still long," recalls Giorgos Vichas. But the social clinic didn't last. It had to close in March 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 crisis, to make way for a luxury complex comprising skyscrapers, residences, a shopping center, hotels, and even a casino.

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