In Sickness and in Debt Our World

some people have had to turn to charities to get treatment. Athens,

Greece, 2013. Six years of recession and four years of tough or spirit

emerges have taken their toll on the to charity for vital medical

treatment. The state is failing how healthcare has been affected by

austerity measures that have seen incomes slashed, taxes increased and

unemployment rockets to nearly 30%. Is there now a health crisis that is

the north of Athens without four boys. -- Alexander Ross. Their

second child is seven. Six months ago he was diagnosed with a red

illness called Anthony Roddick and Duma -- and the neurotic and. An

attacker can happen at any time and times a month. When he does, he

needs an injection, costing 600 euros. It is money his parents

simply can no longer afford. Before the recession, like 97 percent of

people in Greece, this family's health-care needs were covered by

work-related healthcare. When they hit hard times and had to close down

that cafe business, this couple not only lost their steady income, to

about health-insurance as well. -- him to this voluntarily run clinic

in the south of Athens. They have come to see a doctor who works at

the clinic in his spare time from hospital to provide the injection is

free of charge. The family are typical of the patients who are

flocking in ever increasing numbers to see this doctor and his

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 52 seconds

doctor had not helped you? This couple could not get access to

maternity care for the birth of their baby. I have a small business

venture. The issue prices we had to close the business. Because I am an

insured, even public hospitals will not give me an opportunity to give

birth to the child. Did they turn you away? They said you have to pay

money. When you said you could not pay, what did they say? They said

they could not undertake the delivery of the baby without a sum

of money. It is quite incredible just how many people have come to

depend on this community clinic. It has only been around for 18 months,

but they run more than 9000 people on their books. That number is

growing by the day. This single mother is the sole carer for her

bedridden daughter who has just been diagnosed with cancer. With no means

of paying for treatment, she has come to the clinic for help. The

doctor told me he has 12 cancer patients on the books who, cause

financial worries, delay treatment and have jeopardised their lives.

The clinic is just one of around 40 up across the country in the past 18

months. Alongside them are a growing number of clinics like this one,

west of Athens, run by established international charities and more

used to operating in war zones and refugee camps than EU countries. In

just one weekend they see more than 150 children and give around 100

vaccinations. We have worked abroad in the third World for years. We are

in a crisis. It is the beginning of a humanitarian crisis. The numbers

of Greek people who attend the clinics are up five times from the

past to make years. It is the same way here as it is in the third World

because of problems. So why is this basic preventative medicine being

provided by a charity and not the has been hit by a triple whammy. The

unemployed now have no health insurance and need free treatment.

Greeks who previously used the private sector are now turning to

the state, as household incomes are squeezed. Spending cuts have

drastically affected the ability of the National Health Service to

deliver care. All of this is the result of austerity, introduced four

years ago as a condition of a 240 billion euros rescue package for

Greece. The measures are deeply resented and have led to

demonstrations like this across the country. Five years ago, public

spending on health was at its height, at more than 16 billion

euros. It has been slashed by 25%. The hospitals, government spending

has been cut by 30%. Hospitals like this one in Athens Iraq the sharp

end of medical care. Of course, be consumed in largest portion of the

health budget. There have been a shortage of replies and staff in

such hospitals. I have come to find out more. -- a shortage of supplies.

This man has been a doctor here for 25 years. He is convinced that

services are being affected because over all responsibility for running

this hospital. The chief executive says he has managed to make all of

his savings through efficiencies. You're spending was 159 million

euros in 2009. Cuts have meant it has come down to 103 million euros

in 2012. Where did you lose the money? Have you not compromise

patient care as a result? It is not a point of quality, we are trying to

get the right goods at the right price. Suppliers have reduced

prices. We are working more than a relieved with them. We have analysed

what is going on. You do not have staff shortages? We are focusing on

the good. We are not evaluating how much we have spent. Now we evaluate

everything. He denies the hospital has been left short of supplies. I

can see syringes here. Some people say we do not have these. What is

your conclusion? Do you believe that there were savings to be made

through simply efficiencies? We have everything. Can you make the savings

through efficiency only? Without promoting the service? There is no

compromise in this service. We give higher medical service, the rhino

compromises. I was not allowed to speak to patients at the hospital.

There was no way of hearing whether they thought savings had affected

their treatment. Back at the clinic, a net a man who was recently treated

in another hospital. His story suggests that hospitals are

increasingly making patients put the bill for their own treatment. Two

months ago, in severe pain, he came ballooning of his lower aorta. The

doctor concluded he needed an emergency operation. Despite working

all his life, he has no health insurance because he owes money to

costs, the hospital sent him a bill for 6000 euros. When he could not

pay, the debt was transferred to his tax bill, which meant authorities

of charge. Pressure on hospital budgets means they are increasingly

enforcing the rules. Back at the hospital, they ask a doctor what he

does on a patient cannot pay for treatment. We try to help them. Have

you broken the law? Many times. Every day a break the law. I never

ask rents for any patient. -- I never ask for inshore rents. The

stress of unemployment and money worries also takes its toll on

people's mental health. That further increases demands on the health

system. I want to get an idea for the situation is like for people

outside of the city of Athens. I have come to the highway and gone

south of Athens to come here. This is an area where most people used to

work in the shipbuilding industry. Now, unemployment is high. 59

Giorgos has been out of work for four years since he lost his job as

an airline baggage handler. -- 59 and no income. He is now completely

dependent on an international charity, and not just for medical

treatment. Judy he has come to pick up medication and if it was all for

himself and his wife. -- today he has come to pick up medication and

left Giorgos needing psychological treatment and support as well.

very difficult for Kim and his wife. At his home, they do not have

electricity. Crisis been difficult psychologically? Of course.What

kind of help can you give them? Psychotherapy? There are

Psychotherapy? There are psychologists who see people to need

therapy. For some, such stress can be too much to be. I have come to

see an old friend who works the and night to help those who are

suffering from stress. He runs Greece's first dedicated suicide

prevention help line. There is increased evidence that the

financial crisis has posed such mend this blow on people 's mental

health. Although numbers are small, suicide figures have risen by 25%.

What kind of people get in touch with you and what are the problems

they talk about? Many more suicides amongst men. That is because society

puts pressure on men to fulfil particular traditional roles to be

the protector. Greek society does not forgive floors to men,

especially when they have families. I have known you for many years. Did

you ever think we would be having this conversation? No, no. I would

never ever have thought when we first met that they would be in

Athens talking about Greeks killing themselves because they cannot make

ends meet any more. I want to know if politicians and policymakers are

aware of the impact of austerity on health. This professor sat on the

committee that monitored the progress of the Greek government in

meeting targets set by the European Union, the European commission and

the IMF, known as the trite. He resigned last year. That's the

troika. When you have a system that depends on access to key, when that

depends on whether you are employed or not and you have 30%

unemployment, you are creating a huge bomb which, in fact, has

exploded. Why did you design?I did not think the negotiation was going

the way that it should. There was too much emphasis on meeting targets

and not enough of what would happen to the Greek people. Armed with

sufficient evidence of the health crisis, I felt it was time to take

my concerns to the Ministry of that

that anyone in Greece who cannot afford to buy drugs from the

pharmacist or who needs an operation, if they cannot afford to

pay, that the state will provide the life-saving operation. He got it but

it cost him 6000 euros. The hospital was pursuing him for payment and

that was causing him and his family a great deal of stress. Do you

accept that that type of cases going on and he is perhaps one of many?

The fact that there is an increasing number of community clinics, from a

handful last year, to know nearly 40, would sure that there is a

greater need on the behalf of the people for such a free and voluntary

still does not sufficiently recognise the health risks being

brought about by its austerity is that in the last three years,

Medicines Sans Frontiers have dealt with outbreaks of disease dealt with

40 years ago, malaria. Spraying areas where mosquitoes are frowned

can control the disease but that has been disrupt it by government

spending cuts. -- are found. We had very few cases in 2011. They were

around Athens. In 2012, new cases in the north. Can you say that malaria

is now endemic again in Greece? is not endemic in Greece. If we get

more cases this year, we can talk about it. How many more cases?Three

more cases. You need three more locally acquired cases before Greece

is once more declared as a country we are malaria is endemic. Three

more cases of locally acquired malaria. Why when a disease like

malaria raises concerns, it is ironic that the Greek government

underspent on its medical budget. The professor believes it is high

time to loosen the strings. We have not only met but exceeded the cut

that you demanded to know you would say, please let me have 500 million

euros back with an spend on healthcare? To prevent a crisis.

a matter like this, I wouldn't even after troika. It is important for

the health of the Greek people. The Greek population is in danger road

now I ask the health Ministry official whether the Greek

government is now planning to like Catalina and her family. She

needs to know all that when her son Tristan 's next has an attack of the

medication that he needs. That is not something that people like

little in this climate. Did you imagine you would they in situation

like this? No. This is very bad.Do you feel dramatised? Yes.How does

that make you feel? I feel very bad. The government do not help. I have

Vihas has good news for Leonidas and his wife. The hospital has finally

agreed to cancel the 6000 euros they were charging him for his operation,