Medical system in Greece.?

Question

Independently of the different debates we heard about the situation of Christodoulos lately,putting also the blame on the medical system in our country, how would you juge the medical system of Greece?
Mentality, behaviours towards patients, consciousness...

Answer 1

Dear Leonarda,

It happens that I lived in the Netherlands and several other countries for many years. In the Netherlands, everyone pays the same for medical insurance, no one pays more. But no one gets any treatment either! Yes, the facilities looked OK and clean but in essence, the system sucks. In Greece, we did the tests that the Dutch would not do due to costs and we got well in few days. So I got my lesson: if health care becomes "health management" then the management is about how to cut down the costs, not how to improve your health. Any costs. And those include the costs of your own life.

Since you are a woman, I may also give you some "nightmare" examples: the infant mortality in the Netherlands is higher than anywhere else in Europe. Why? Because Dutch doctors allow and even encourage women to give birth at home...Caesarian is almost never allowed, epidurals rarely used (!), and any simple drugs very rarely administered. Prenatal diagnosis is a luxury, and naturally the country has the highest record of children with Down syndrome. To see an obstetrician or any other specialist is also a luxury as first you always must visit your family doctor whose job is how to prevent you from seeing anyone else. Without his recommendation, no specialist can accept you. The system also controls the family doctors whether they subscribe more than allowed. The penalty is tough. And no one takes the risk.

Try to cope with this kind of health care!

Its not anymore about how your hospital looks like or how much you pay. It is about being sick and not getting the treatment you need.

So when I listen to my fellow Greeks complaining, I just smile. Or should I go on with the "looks" of a public hospital in...Napoli, or in Venice, IT? Because, Italians often forget that Italy is not just Milano. The central hospital in Rhodes looks like a paradise as compared to many of theirs...The main hospital in Heraklion Crete is amazing and far more modern than the one I have seen once in Paris.

I do know, however, that the major problem is in Athens (Laikon is a mess). There are 4 hospitals in Athens and 3 in Thessaloniki that give the bad picture. Crowdy, dirty, disorganized and overloaded with patients. Yes, we need to change a lot but please let us not look on the wrong side.

For the US, the situation is very simple: Got money? Got the treatment. It is this way or the highway...When you loose your job, you loose the health benefits. Try to live with that as well! But at least there the system is direct and honest. Not pretentious.

Answer 2

Well on the contrary of everyone that has answered your question I gotta say the medical system worked in our case.My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago and went to the public hospital for treatment.We were all very happy with the results and the treatment she has recieved.Everyone was very friendly,all were really willing to help her,to inform us.Whenever we get back there for a check up(she has been of the treatments for about half a year now) everyone is always really friendly,asking her how everything is going etc.Sure the waiting lines are sometimes long and yes,we also paid the usual fakelaki for the operation but that was only because my father wanted the chief of surgery to perform the operation on my mother(if he hadn't persisted on that man alone and another,less experienced doctor had done it we wouldn't have had to pay anything).She was also very happy with the treatment she got a few years back when she needed surgery for another problem,a lot of positive stories from my mom.i don't know if our case is the exception of the rule,I do know though that we have the best doctors in Europe maybe,okay the facilities aren't always the best,but I do think those people are trying and doing the best they can under the circumstances they have to work in.And you don't want to listen about the horror stories I've heard about the doctors in my other country(Netherlands).My mom who is dutch says that she will never go back to Holland for medical treatment no matter what's wrong with her and that she would prefer anyone of her loved ones being treated here instead of anywhere else...

Answer 3

Let's hope that it works, because a good friend in intensive care can't afford medical mistakes on top of his injuries right now.
As for the situation, there is a huge lack of personnel: my friend who is a doctor has to work so many shifts all the time. If you go to an emergency room it has such a long queue, that a real emergency would die waiting! How can we expect doctors to perform well after 24 hours of constant work?
In addition, although some doctors are excellent, you never know. Some are ignorant. My friend had a patient recently, whom he diagnosed with acute "cholocystitida" (I don't know the word in english. He sent him to the surgical team, who told him he had a stomac problem and sent him away! The guy went back to my friend, fortunately, and told him what the surgeons said. So my friend told him to go directly to a private hospital or a private surgeon. The guy went to a private hospital to a friend of his, where of course they operated urgently for cholocystitida and saved the man!

Answer 4

luckily, although both my parents have had serious surgery, we haven't faced problems as my dad is i the airforce and they have their own hospital...

in the other hospitals the "fakelakia" are common though...I don't want to put the blame to the state, I think that it's the mentality...I have a cousin who's a nurse and all she does is getting her fat *** bigger...

for Christodoulos though I don't think it's the medical system...on the contrary, he's very ill and just bc he's "chritodoulos" they're ding everything to save him...+I think that's tha worst about our medical system...

Answer 5

A visit to a public hospital is enough to make anybody understand at first site. It stinks. People that don't have the means to pay for private treatment get a mediocre or even neglectant treatment, with relatives playing the role of nurses, physicians being almost never enough and disposable, and hospital kitchens reminding of dirty warehouses.
Things are utterly different in the private section of rendering medical services, but such treatment is lying far beyond the financial abilities of the majority, unless in exchange of a very well paid insurance contract.

Answer 6

In the last official report of EU, we are in the 17th position when, Cyprus is 4th, Germany 1st and England 5th.
But I didn't expect that report to be convinced that our medical system is a mess.

Answer 7

actually, hardly anyone in the US think we have the best med. system. in fact, most people hate it, yet it works for some people, and doesn't for others.

Answer 8

The Medical system, the Press, the doctors, the priests, the fight for the leadership of the political party.......
I am watching TV, reading the newspapers and I feel sick.
I want to shout : mercy! Enough!! Nothing is respected any more, no privacy, no personal data, nothing. I am sick, fed up.

Answer 9

A big corruption based on the envelop for the poor ones, and on spending big amounts for the famous and rich...Is this a justice?

Answer 10

Like any other system or institution in Greece: a mess. Why should medical system differ?