That pharmacies and hospitals in Greece are facing large shortages interfering with their ability to provide necessary care for patients is not news to most people by now. To grasp the level of urgency and the extent to which these shortages have affected patients, we have to turn to news from the island of Leros, where the State Infirmary of Leros has announced that it cannot meet even its basic needs, such as the feeding of patients.
According to deputy governor of the institution, John Antiartis, the 350 mentally ill patients hosted at the institution have become systematically malnourished in recent days as the hospital has had to deal with critical food shortages and not only with shortages in medicine.
With an urgent letter sent yesterday Wednesday to the Greek Health Ministry and the president of the 2nd Health Region, Christina Papanikolaou, Antiartis informed those responsible that the hospital is unable to meet the food needs of its mentally ill patients. He also sent the same letter to the political parties that were elected in the May 6 elections (ND, SYRIZA, PASOK, Independent Greeks, Democratic Left, KKE with the exception of Golden Dawn).
“We want to inform you that we are unable to meet the basic food needs of our patients who are malnourished because of major food shortage. Our suppliers refuse to continue supplying us with food because of our large debt,” the letter reads.
“Pension funds owe us huge amounts making the State Infirmary of Leros unable to pay its debts,” Antiartis explained and called on those responsible to address the issue immediately.
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