in the News
JUNE7, 2015
Dear lenders: Are you serious you demand the cut of EKAS?
JUNE7, 2015
Dear lenders: Are you serious you demand the cut of EKAS?
the EKAS, Pensioners' Social Resposinbility Allowence
Denied to be repealed even by the previous governement, but been agreed finally since September 2014 by ex govt to be repealed at the end of 2015, Tsipras' governement has extended its effect.It is just about a 57-230 euros for disabled and very low income pensioners of old age , concerning, and helping till now, by that least, humble amount, 280.000 Greek recipients and their families to survive
- i) total income up to 7715.65 Euros monthly allowance of 230 euros
- ii) total income 7715.66 million to 8472.09 euros monthly allowance as follows:
- From 7715.66 to 8018.26 euro: 172.50 euros
- From 8018.27 to 8219.93 euro: 115,00 EUR
- From 8219.94 to 8472.09 EUR: 57,50 EUR
the haircut of our souls
A 70 year old Greek man died on the last day of September, while standing on the bank queue to pay the “barbaric” Enfia tax, which was also accutely imposed by Samaras' government during the August (vacation) days, and was announced by a definite deadline for the Greek citizens, threatening them otherwise to let the bank system take the money straight from the Greeks’ accounts, or put in jail whoever was not able to pay .
The 70 year old man was patiently waiting for 1.5 hours and more to pay the ENFIA property tax, as the government had ordered, when he suffered a what it seems a heart attack, while waiting on a long queue at the bank , and no one knows if this was his last savings to get the coming month through, but was, definitely his last money of his life .more
Social Clinic started an Unyielding and Uncompromising struggle vs. the Greek Ministry of Health trying to prove that Greeks are cannibalized by intention, by recording and bringing to light cases of people who have paid seriously by their health or even their lives the Greek austerity politics, due to the prolonged crisis and the lack of access to health services which have harmed their health. Metropolitan Social Clinic, invites all citizens of the country who belong to such social groups to contact the Social Clinic for registering all incidents and provide their cases to The Hague tribunal.August 2014, more
Greeks self-burning in Flammes
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Greeks, the new Desperate suicide self-life bombers
Just unemployed A 20 years- old
Greek woman unemployed, punishing herself. That's one of the suicides nextdoor that happen the last two years in Greece as part of the day routine. The 20year old set herself in flammes and died silently in the dark in the area at Melisia, at the North of Athens on Tuesday night November 5. Her father was looking for her in agony for a whole night. In the morning, he went to the Police...Source:periodiko.net
Greeks' life impossible
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Unemployed father sells his kidney to feed his children
True. In Greece, nextdoor , Winter 2014
"We sold everything, furniture, electrical appliances and whatever else we had at home. There's nothing left. We cannot live like this. That's why I want to sell my kidney. For me this is nothing, I can live with just one kidney. I would sell my own head if someone would buy it. I live for my children but I cannot offer them the basic necessities. I would die for them. But I cannot offer them anything anymore." Read the incredible drama
by ANSA MED
austerity orphans May 25 2014, by the NYT In the middle of the Greek economic crisis, the photographer Nikos Pilos visited Alexandra Hospital in Athens to document the growing problem of child abandonment
the tragedy itself
the tragedy itself
Greek kids struggling desperately
today SOS by the New Europe About 686,000 Greek children, or 35.4 percent of the total, are facing the risk of poverty and social exclusion, according to recent data released by the Greek National Committee of UNICEF.With approximately 28 percent of Greece's working force currently rendered jobless, the number of minors growing up in unemployed households has increased 70 percent in four years
Greeks simply shot dead
Summary:
Young adults in Greece suffer more from stress and mental health problems and are less optimistic about the future than Swedes of the same age. The grave financial problems in Greece have brought on a social crisis that has probably affected people's health, according to a study from Linköping University.
In the study, recently published in the scientific journalPLOS One, groups of students at Athens University and Linköping University replied to questions about their health and perceived stress. The results show that in every respect, the Greek students reported poorer health than the Swedish students.
On the other hand, the biologically measured levels of the stress hormone cortisol were higher amongst the Greeks -- the opposite to what was expected.
"This should not be interpreted as saying that the students in Athens were less stressed than those in Linköping. We know from other studies that people who are depressed or are 'burned out', or suffer from chronic stress syndrome actually have lower cortisol levels. People can handle shorter periods of stress quite well, but after some time the body cannot manage the high stress levels and the cortisol levels start to fall. If the stress factors remain, it can also lead a weakened immune system," says Tomas Faresjö, professor of medical sociology and chief investigator for the study.
The differences in participants' health and quality of life were very clear. For instance, 42% of the Greek students (52 of 124) had experienced serious life events, compared to 23% of the Swedish students. 47% of the Greeks reported stress compared 21% of the Swedes. 24% of the Greeks had no hope for the future, a view shared by just 5% of the Swedes.
"The study shows that the health of young Greeks is considerably worse than that of young Swedes. One can suspect that the social crisis in Greece is beginning to have biological effects on the residents of the country," says Dr Faresjö.
Biological stress levels were measured using hair. This is a completely new method that has been further developed by the research group in Linköping. It makes it possible to measure the release of cortisol backward in time. The levels leave their mark in the hair, and since hair grows about one centimetre a month it is possible to see how stressed the person has been in recent months.
The
New Day
The
New Day
Such another Day: A Hug by the Gov for the Symbol Cleaning ladies
Such another Day: A Hug by the Gov for the Symbol Cleaning ladies
"We remind them that our government has a different perception of what reform migh mean, and that our own reforms have nothing to do with those practices that contributed for decades to the underdevelopment and injustice that held the country back" Yanis Varoufakis.said emphatically, calling "Symbols of resistance against the Memoranda" the 365 cleaning ladies of the Finance Ministry who were fighting for one year long for the loss of their jobs.. Monday May 11, 2015, find this
Alexis in the Ministry of Health 1st week of his governance
"The national health service had problems before the bailout, but it's obvious that in the last four or five years, the bailout choices and reforms were a nuclear bomb at the foundations of the national health service," Tsipras said.
He announced his government was repealing the "unacceptable" 5-euro payment patients were required to make in order to be seen on an out-patient basis at public hospitals.
"We are already working on interventions to abolish bailout measures that have contributed to the destruction of the health service," he said, listing reforms to the ambulance service, medications and pharmacies, mental health and appointing doctors in rural areas.
We are in a war
We are in a war
Hatzimarkakis to European Parliament members: ( before Euro-elections on June 2014) We are in a war! Figures do remind wartime ...
On a smashing interview on the
a Chatzimarkakis says there have been discussions from Germany about a continuation of the rescue package for Greece after the upcoming European elections. “This is the point I want to make: I can’t understand why you have to continue a policy which has been proven wrong by the IMF, by the European Parliament, by experts and you can see it in Greece—youth unemployment has reached 65 or 67%.”
He adds, “But not only that, the mortality of the newborn, has gone up by 43% in the last three years. This happens only in wartime. This doesn’t happen in normal peace time. That means Greece is in something like a war.”
- Explaining the increase in infant mortality rates, the MEP says that there are three reasons behind these shocking statistics, firstly that mothers’ health has often declined in tough times, secondly that medicines are frequently missing from stocks and finally, that the prices of drugs has increased beyond what many can afford.
“It’s a very dangerous mixture that we have seen in the Weimar Republic in Germany and we all know where it led to: it led to the Third Reich. So why do the Germans who themselves have experienced this extremely explosive mix of policies in their own history, why do they impose on others the same dangerous mix? I cannot understand,” he says Read more of this interview at
June 5, 2015
"It is still impossible for me to imagine that after five years (of harsh austerity) there exists today in the Greek Parliament a single MP who is ready to vote pro the repealing the Pensioners' Social Responsibility Allowence (EKAS) or pro an increase of 10 units in the electricity bill, as the lenders demanded
a. the CUT OF EKAS, Pensioners' Social Resposinbility Allowenceb. the 10 units increase in the electricity bills
( thousands have commited suicides due to the unbearable, especially for the poor and middle-class, electricity bills where the taxes are included, and people were jailed by the previous govt law for owning more than 5000 euors. Also dozens of people were burned in flammes trying to get warm last winter and during winter of 2013 ) find this story
Greeks left to die
The family – an elderly couple, their son and grandson – had their power supply cut off for more than two years due to unpaid bills
Four people managed to escape unharmed after their apartment in the Kordelio suburb of Thessaloniki, in northern Greece, went up in flames in the early hours of Thursday.
The fire is believed to have been caused by candles that had been left unattended, the local mayor told the media on Friday.
Two family members were reportedly taken to hospital with breathing problems.
Earlier this month, a 13-year-old girl of Serbian origin died of carbon monoxide poisoning in an apartment in Thessaloniki.
The police said that she died after inhaling fumes from a wood-burning stove her mother was using to heat the home after its electricity was disconnected
Greeks left in flames
Greek death raises worry of winter impact on poor
The Associated Press
Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013 | 12:20 a.m.
Greek authorities say a 13-year-old girl has died after inhaling fumes from a wood-burning stove her mother was using to heat the home after its electricity was disconnected.
The case has raised concern about poor families' ability to cope with the encroaching winter.
Police said Monday that the girl, of Serbian origin, died late Sunday night in the northern city of Thessaloniki . Neighbors said the 54-year-old mother had struggled financially and electricity to her apartment had been cut several months ago.
Thousands no longer have heating in their homes, unable to afford heating oil or high electricity bills.Lasvegassun
Thank you Bloomberg, for shedding light on the Greeks' real-time Genocite ...
..during the 2013 Christmas days, while the Greek State cuts the light and electricity in patients' homes, demanding cash, even from disabled and those whose the pension is cut....by the State itself . Deaths of the people being burned in flame due to cut electricity have risen to seven
On the edge. Obviously, this is the Lenders’ side response to the Hope that Democracy let the Greeks vote on 25 January by choosing Alexis. And they successed to Haircut that hope in the terms of Greek reality, since they orchastrated to shave all the country’s cash, and keep to stick to the Euro- Agreement’s details, that are practically the main government’s Red lines.... Visit our Home Page to Sense Greece at a glance. May 11, 2015
Pensions Cut: A cause for Refferendum
Pensions Cut: A cause for Refferendum
Further Cut? This is definitely Red Lines
May 10, 2015
"Pensions are insistingly asked by the lenders to reach the 320 euros for the achievement of an agreement, blackmailing a Leftist Government to sign. Who said we would not ask the Greeks if they agree THAT WAY, with Euro All costs? Referrendum seems impossible "...
@Alexis Mitropoulos on Real FM @Kostas Xardavelas airshow, 10/5 2015
Pensions in Greece were cut by between 44.2 - 48 % till now by the memorandum governmenets, while there were further also, significant annual reductions of up to 16.9 % for pensions under 1,000 euros a month due to the abolition of the 13th and 14th pensions.
Today: Cut to almost their half, pensions were promised to reach the 320 euros, by Samaras before his fall
Today: Cut to almost their half, pensions were promised to reach the 320 euros, by Samaras before his fall
pointing our that continued uncertainty regarding the bankruptcy of Athens is not in the interest of the country."
Samaras had also promised to the Greeks no further cut since 2012
Since May 2014
It was his 4th month of his reignance in Autumn of 2012, when Antonis Samaras promised “the last austerity package, the last painful cuts for wages and pensions”.said that the austerity bill to be passed by the parliament, tslking to the Greek people, while admitting that cuts in wages and pensions are not fair, but “necessary for the rescue of the country.” He had noted that in order to save Greece, the people must want it too (!) in a long speech with a striking lack of inspiration and where the black was turned to white...
Live tragedies, Jump of Despair
Two double suicides of Desperate mother and son, due to poverty torture. Cut of pensions was the cause in both
May 23, 2012
The list of desperate Greeks is getting longer day by day. It was 8 o’clock in the morning on Thursday morning, when neighbors at Metaxourgio district of Athens heard a hollow noise. Then silence. And then screaming. By curious neighbors who had come outside to see what the noise was. A 90-year-old woman was laying on the next to her 60-year-old son.
Mother and son had committed suicide from the 6th floor of a
multi-storey building they were living in. They both died immediately.
Posted by keeptalkinggreece
February 25, 2015
“Double suicide” due to pension cut urges Greek gov’t to address humanitarian crisis asap
A middle-aged woman and her son apparently jumped to death from the fifth floor of the building they were tenants. The woman, 63, died immediately, the son, 27, two hours later in the hospital where he was transferred. The tragedy occurred Wednesday morning in Chalkida, on the island of Euboia in Eastern Greece. A neighbor found the bodies and informed ambulance and police. The local community and the neighbors are in shock. They knew that the family was struggling with severe economic problems.
it is not clear whether the one person pushed the other over the edge or they both jumped at the same time.
Local
media reported that the mother was receiving a small disability pension
and that this was cut off.
.
shooting the Greek heart
Heart attack incidence rose across the board:
- 20.8 percent for patients age 45 or younger
- 25.7 percent for men ,
- 29.4 percent for those older than 45 and
- 39.2 percent for women
Greece the Blue Zone, of the worst countries to be aged. But hosts centenarians! Guess why ...Meet the oxymoron
Sweden is first , Germany third and USA is at nr.8. Now the EU and Germany wants this Blue Zone, but for them, in case they could live for ever...
Learn how this is well programed and organised, click on our fully detailed article of Greek to me !
Greeks hanging on the No.1 minimum monthly income guarantee among the EU countriesSummer 2014
Greece is the only EU country not to have implemented a guaranteed minimum income and is among the most sluggish in adopting programmes to address social inequality and aid citizens living in extreme poverty and social exclusion, a new report from the Parliamentary Budget Office, on August 2014.
This is despite the fact that six in ten citizens are living in or at risk of poverty, the PBO report (pdf), said. Read more on our moodhackerblog article
Greece at the bottom of.Social Justice Index ranks 28th among 28
Curent European humanitarian solidarity
Every one per cent fall in government spending in Greece leads to a 0.43 per cent rise in suicides among men. Put simply, 551 men committed suicide between 2009 and 2010 in Greece solely due to fiscal austerity. Read the smashing research by the Portsmuth Univ
Were these all inevitable consequences of recession, rather than consequences of austerity? Of course the Greek financial and political elites have made mistakes. And of course Greece's fiscal and monetary options were severely restricted as part of the bailout deals. But the suffering of the Greeks was not inevitable.
Several prevailing myths are commonly offered as alternative explanations for Greece's devastating health outcomes, including these three:
- The first myth: "Greece's healthcare system is excessive and inefficient." But there are just five hospital beds in Greece per 1,000 people, versus more than eight beds per 1,000 people in Germany.
- The second myth: "Greeks are lazy." But in 2011 the average Greek citizen worked 2,038 hours per year -- 600 hours more than the average German, according to the OECD.1
- The third myth: "Europe's bailout money is being squandered." But bailout money is not flowing in to support Greece's healthcare system-- it is instead circulating back to large international banks in Germany, France and the UK.
What we learned from analyzing past crises is that people do not inevitably get sick or die because the economy has faltered. Fiscal policy can be a matter of life and death.
go to Cnn Article, by September 2013
facts and Science of the Genocide
First official scientific study proves Crisis is killing aged Greeks
A new study in the most recent issue of Lancet points to the first indications of a rise in mortality in Greece linked to the crisis "Mortality and the economic crisis in Greece." (Lancet 2014; 383: 691)
In 2012, there were 116,670 deaths in Greece, the highest number since 1949. The 2008—12 rise in the number of deaths is attributed to the increase in the number of deaths in the oldest individuals, with 12·5% and 24·3% increases in people aged 80—84 years and older than 85 years, respectively Although deeper investigation into changes in cause-specific mortality rates is needed, this trend is probably related to barriers to access health care for chronically ill patients because of the drastic restrictions in health policies and the increase in uninsured individuals. More, by TheTOCgr
First scientific link of austerity link with the Greek suicides
First scientific link of austerity link with the Greek suicides
A study has, for the first time, confirmed the link between the increasing suicide rate and the tightening of austerity policies. Research from the University of Portsmouth brings a clear warning backed for the first time by scientific data that tells us what many – particularly in Greece – already know too well. According to the results, every 1% of Greek public spending cuts corresponds to a 0.45% rise in the suicide rate. The same goes for every 1% in unemployment, which corresponds to a 3.5% rise in deaths, just in the 25-44 age group. This is reflected by the 551 suicides in Greece during 2009-2010. It’s a worrying statistic that speaks clearly, showing the direct relationship that, overall, affects men aged 45-89, who can no longer manage the daily struggle of surviving on pensionsand wages stripped to the bone – surprisingly unlike women.
The No mercy gov 2012-2014
Unbelievable!
Let's slice
Greek Health
like salami...
Health Minister to Paul Thomsen:
“Tell me Paul, do you know about salami? Because if you do, then you know that if you eat it whole you could choke and die. But, if you slice it and eat a slice at a time you enjoy it.” , meaning the Communication Process by which a wise politician should proceed to reforms announcing them to the "mass" step by step!
For more details go to the TOC article
Cynicicm or politics? Here are the facts..
The soaring numbers of deaths of the H1N1 flu virus this year revealed under the season's Public Health Emergency the total collapse of what the system had managed to achieve before the austerity bomb . Up to now ,83 number of deaths due to the H1N1 pandemic flu virus have reached almost the double of the total of last years' deaths, by the Flu season expected to last at least till the end of March, according to the Greek Center for Disease Control(KEELPNO) ...for more scinetific answers on what politics, or communication reasons caused such a fatality on death rates this season in Greece, visit our Greek to me updated article,
Cynicism or Politics? Greeks dying from Pandemic Flu this year . Here are the facts,
Cancer patients, uninsured
left in their luck
Health Minister: " It is not urgent"
The health minister has told a major US newspaper that he doesn't consider "illnesses like cancer" to be "urgent, unless you are in the final stages",in an article of Washington Post,
published on Saturday 23, that showed how uninsured cancer patients are left to pay for their own life-saving treatment as a result of losing their social security coverage due to long-term unemployment.
the 17.9% of Greeks can’t afford to buy food
–( HIGHER PERCENTAGE than in countries with lower per capita income such as Brazil and China.) SHOCK BY THE OECD REPORT!
The report, entitled “Society at a Glance 2014″, details huge income losses incurred by Greeks during the period 2007-2012, averaging 4,400 euros per person – the highest among OECD countries and four times the eurozone average. The number of “jobless” families have almost doubled according to the report with one in five Greek adults living in a household where no member is working. Any economic recovery, is stressing the report, is not expected to end to Greece’s social crisis quickly. Read the OECD Report
Are we just left to die?
unknown cheap and uncontrolled
The new law imposed to the greek patient's luck by the government switches the pharmaceutical therapies to a "risky pool" of multiple unknown generics imported in Greece, also from the third world, and transforms drug safety in the country to a russian roulette for the survival of the citizen, 24/7...!
The President of Pharmaceutical companies reveals in numbers how cynical the European decision making has become, truly, for today's Greeks' real life ...NEW ! UPDATED FULL STORY ON DRUGS, GENERICS AND "THE PARTIES" IN GREECE moodhacker, Novemeber 30, Greek to me !
Is this a feast?
" What to do when you have to eat? " , Greeks on the queues were asking.People mostly older , retired on the verge of destitution , homeless and unemployed, accumulated from early Thursrday morning in a queue formed in Varvakeio market where butchers baked to commemorate the MeatBakind Day ...Instead of 1.5 tonne meat, that was primarily supposed to be ebaough to cover the needs of this day, the butchers ultimately provided 2.5 tons : 3,000 servings of food with a little wine ( Periodista)
or, obviously, the needy's rations on a "Soviet-type New Greece?"
Governmental politician, Foteini Pipili, well known as a 30-year journalist,cynically, described the phenomenon as a traditional feast! There is no misery in the eyes of Greece's governors . As nobody dares to recognize the poverty in the eyes of the haggard, still proud and dignified Greeks, or, at least, nobody dares to look straight the Greeks in the eyes, for what in their real life finally means such a cannibalistic primary surplus, for which PM A.Samaras has repeatedly been boasting towards international community
the Health System Deaths' Production
Greece's deepening health crisis a result of continued healthcare budget cuts
The authors from the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine find that Greece has had the largest cutbacks to the health sector seen across Europe, as the bailout package capped public expenditure at 6% of GDP.
For example, from 2009 to 2011, the public hospital budget was reduced by over 25%. Greece's public spending on health is now less than any of the other pre-2004 European Union members.
Lead author of the study, Alexander Kentikelenis of Cambridge University, said: 'The data reveals that the Greek welfare state has failed to protect people at the time they needed support the most. A rapidly growing number of Greeks are losing access to healthcare from budget cuts and unemployment.'
Senior author Dr David Stuckler from the University of Oxford said: 'The Greek government -along with their European partners -- appears to have been in denial about austerity's severe impact on health.
We hope this research will help the Greek government mount an urgently needed response to these escalating human crises.'
The paper details signs of the nation's deterioration in health including:
- *HIV incidence has risen in injecting drug-users more than 10-fold from 2009 to 2012
- *Tuberculosis incidence among injecting drug users more than doubled in 2013
- *State funding for mental health decreased by 55% between 2011 and 2012
- *Major depression increased 2.5-fold between 2008 and 2011
- *Suicides increased by 45% between 2007 and 2011
- *Infant mortality jumped by 43% between 2008 and 2010
- The proportion of children at risk of poverty increased from 28 in 2007 to 30% in 2011
The authors note that experiences of other countries that have overcome financial crises, such as Iceland and Finland, suggest that by ring-fencing health and social budgets, governments can avoid some of the harmful effects of crisis taking their toll on the health of their populations.
The authors conclude: 'The foundations for a well functioning health-care system need structures that are accountable and coordinated -- not denialism. These findings suggest that the people of Greece deserve better.'
The Greek government of Antonis Samaras introduced new charges for visits to outpatient clinics and higher costs for medicines. General health services were also eroded, says the paper. The authors' analysis of the latest available data from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions revealed a 47% rise in people who felt they did not receive medically necessary healthcare. This increase was linked to a rising inability to afford care and the costs of travel to access health services, according to the authors. Rapidly increasing unemployment since 2009 meant a growing number of people no longer had any form of health cover, with an estimated 800,000 without unemployment benefits or the ability to access health services.
Story Source:The above story is based on materials provided by The Lancet. .More by Science daily February 2014
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