Athens…..it’s an extremely compact city; it has enough grit, weirdness and bustle to give it that urban vibe which you don’t seem to have in Dublin. But like many other visitors to Athens, I am travelling not knowing the full extent of the country’s economic problems.
My colleague and I are travelling to Athens with one goal…a mission you could call it, to find Doctors that are willing to come and work in Ireland.
In case you have been living under a rock in past few years you will know that Ireland has a severe shortage of NCHD’s (Junior Doctors), as a result of this we have had to source Doctors from countries all over Europe.
Most recently our European counterparts Greece have been through harsh economic times. So much so that the IMF came knocking on their door in early May, or should I say Greece knocked on the door of the IMF. A bailout package was agreed to the tune of €30 Billion, a figure would be beyond comprehension in third world countries. Unemployment is currently tethering around the 12% mark, a figure which is in actual fact lower than that of the Republic of Ireland but still dangerously high.
So what effect does the introduction of the IMF have on Doctors and the health system in Greece? Well the feeling I got by speaking to Greek Doctors is that they are extremely fed up, un-happy and vexed by the situation. This is a feeling that is present across the whole country which is evident in the protests that are constantly taking place in the capital and also the armed riot police that man every street corner prepared for the worst. In effect the country has temporarily given up its sovereignty and handed it to the IMF, they are now running the show and as a result the Health System is suffering. This is a route that Ireland must not look at going down but in the end the people may have no say in the matter.
As we spoke to more Doctors the real seriousness of the situation became apparent, Doctors aren’t getting paid on time and when they do they aren’t receiving the right amount.
One particular Doctor I spoke to had been working as a Junior Doctor in Cardiology within a public hospital in Athens. He proceeded to tell me how he had not been paid for nearly 4 weeks, his salary had been dramatically cut in the space of one year to roughly €400 per week and that the conditions within the hospital had deteriorated due to extreme cuts in public sector spending, the government passed a budget agreeing to €8 Billion worth of cuts in 14 months.
The consensus amongst all the Doctors we met in Greece was that they feared that hospitals would close down and there would be a mass exodus of Doctors from the country. The majority of Doctors we met wished to leave so that they could provide a better future for their family.
The question is can Ireland benefit from the current unrest amongst Medical Professionals in Greece?? What I’ve concluded is that as long as the IMF is running Greece we have a good chance.