A press report on Greece’s healthcare system published on “The Guardian” website on Sunday was based on outdated information and on the “irresponsible scaremongering” of a group of “discredited” unionists, Health minister Andreas Xanthos said on Monday.
The article titled “Patients who should live are dying’: Greece’s public health meltdown” provides a gloomy look into Greece’s hospitals claiming austerity has jeopardized patients’ health.
“Guardian’s report is referring to data from 2011 and 2012 and is not based on any documented study of the situation in Greece’s healthcare system that takes into account the new situation and recent data of ELSTAT,” the minister said. “Unfortunately the article reproduces the irresponsible scaremongering from representatives of a discredited union bureaucracy that has nothing to do with the truly moving superhuman efforts shown by doctors and other workers in the ESY [national health system] to keep public healthcare on its feet and reliable,” he continued.
“We repeat, for those who do not understand: Greece is a safe country in terms of healthcare, the ESY is now being stabilized and upgraded daily,” he said, noting the government has hired permanent staff and hospitals are sufficiently equipped.
Xanthos also warned against “those who are betting on the collapse” of the national healthcare system saying they will be proven wrong. “The baseless scaremongering, vulgar populism and systematic effort to create a climate of insecurity in society will not pass,” he added.
(source: ana-mpa)
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