Solidarity outpatient clinics in Greece: a survey of a massive social movement

Objective: Until 2016, around 3 million persons had limited access to health care in Greece due to the economic crisis. We describe a massive solidarity movement of community clinics and pharmacies in Greece. Method: We conducted a survey in 2014-15 and describe the characteristics of community clin...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Evlampidou, Iro, Kogevinas, Manolis
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versão publicada
Data de publicação:2019
País:España
Recursos:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositório:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/44936
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/44936
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaceta.2017.12.001
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Economic recession
Greece
Health policy
Delivery of health care
Recesión económica
Grecia
Políticas de salud
Prestación de asistencia sanitaria
Descrição
Resumo:Objective: Until 2016, around 3 million persons had limited access to health care in Greece due to the economic crisis. We describe a massive solidarity movement of community clinics and pharmacies in Greece. Method: We conducted a survey in 2014-15 and describe the characteristics of community clinics and pharmacies spontaneously established all over Greece after 2008. Results: A characteristic of the 92 active solidarity clinics is autonomous collective functioning, free services, and funding from non-governmental sources. The largest clinics examined more than 500 uninsured or partly insured patients per month. Clinics covered a wide range of clinical and preventive services. Funding, availability of drugs, vaccines, medical material and their legal status were the main problems identified. The solidarity movement involved thousands of health professionals covering essential population needs. Conclusions: The community outpatient clinics were an outstanding example of solidarity and temporarily alleviated the health needs of a large part of the population.