Greece: lack of ambulances costing lives

The deficits in the provision of medical emergency care have reached dramatic proportions in Greece. On the popular tourist island of Kos, a woman died in a pick-up truck that was transporting her to hospital on Sunday. The island's sole functioning ambulance was unavailable. A few days later a 19-year-old pregnant woman near Athens and a tourist in Chalkidiki died after having to wait too long for an ambulance.

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Kosmodromio (GR) /

The country is dying of neglect

Kosmodromio is disappointed:

“Greece is dying while waiting for an ambulance, waiting months for medical examinations and operations, dying at home or in poorly maintained emergency rooms where even bandages are lacking. People die because they can't afford good operations, because they can't afford chemotherapy and back-up treatments, because they can't afford expensive drugs and injections, things that are necessary to fight a multitude of diseases and afflictions. Greece is simply dying, quietly, silently on the back of pick-up trucks, in the dark rooms of sad buildings that have been flirting with death for years.”

TVXS (GR) /

The very core of democracy under threat

The right to healthcare is being violated, writes the news website TVXS:

“No one knows whether the woman would have survived if an ambulance had picked her up in time. But there is no doubt that she was entitled to that possibility. Everyone has the right to immediate access to public health services. And since this is not the case the problem is huge and affects the very core of Greek democracy. The image of success that Mitsotakis paints for the country stands in stark contrast to the fate of this unfortunate woman.”