Even as they remain incapable of covering most of their basic needs, many Greeks are still forced to give “fakelakia” (bribes) to public hospital doctors in order to be treated properly and on time. One of the more surprising aspects of Greece’s crisis has been the steady enrichment of many public hospital doctors as a result of such bribes. Patients, meanwhile, are struggling through some of the most difficult times of their lives. This is all proven by the fact that Greeks pay almost twice as much in bribes as they do for actual health services, according to a stream of new data. According to official figures recorded by the National Statistic Service, ELSTAT, Greek households currently pay more than 119 million euros out of their own pockets for doctors. George Vogiatzis, scientific director of Genesis Pharma, analyzed and explained the ELSTAT data in the following way: “The private payments (from individuals), despite the crisis and the dramatic reduction in their income to public hospitals, have increased. This – to some extent – may be attributed to the increased costs for afternoon clinics and the introduction of a ticket of 5 euros for each patient’s visit.” But Vogiatzis argues that the net cost of those tickets does not even approach 100 million euros. Almost every government official concedes that state revenues from afternoon clinics and “ticket sales” are declining, not rising. And regardless of whether patients are themselves paying for their treatments, health care is relatively affordable in Greece. What remains are the illegal payments – the “fakelakia.” Evidently, those who profit off “black money” are in no way daunted by the warnings of trade union bodies – the Federation of Hospital Doctors, for instance – which have launched special campaigns designed to prevent such practices.
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