As Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis is currently presiding over an unprecedented dismantling of public health structures. So far close to a million Greeks are now uninsured while hospitals now face shortages of even basic supplies.

According to a recent Lancet paper the austerity driven health-care ‘reforms’ have led to a 21% increase in stillbirths, a 43% increase in infant mortality a spike in suicide and HIV infection rates and the resurgence of diseases such as malaria.

Is this what was behind the angry whistles and boos Mr Georgiadis was met with when he visited Imperial College? Not according to the Minister who knew who was really to blame: the socialists who don’t understand democracy! And given that they were studying in London they were not only socialists but wealthy socialists who, according to Mr Georgiadis, have no place in Western civilization.

“What rules of democracy allow some rich kids to do these things? Because don’t talk to me about poor kids in London because I will burst out laughing…It is ridiculous to come to the City of London to bring down capitalism. Let’s make this clear, if you are a communist, you can’t be in the City of London.” Mr Georgiadis said in an interview following the debacle, demonstrating a rather shaky grasp of his own of the concept of democracy. “Go to North Korea or Havana…Go to the guy who got 100% in North Korea and enjoy his socialism. Don’t pretend to be a socialist in the City.”

Somewhat unsurprisingly, many Greeks in London took offense to Mr Georgiadis’s portrayal of them as reactionary ‘rich kids’.  One of those was Mr Mazaris a consultant surgeon who wrote the following open letter to the Health Minister:
 

Dear Mr Georgiadis

I am one of the ‘rich kids’ you referred to on Greek television who lives and works in London. I am a Consultant Urological Surgeon at the hospital of the university at which you were invited to speak.

I am not a left-winger (I want to make that clear) so that you don’t hate me from the outset. I am a patriot who loves and bleeds for his country and the mess it is in, who served in the army for 18 months (9 months in Samos without ‘connections’) and who received an honorary distinction for my service.

I completed a master’s degree and PhD in London not because I was wealthy but because I had dreams and the desire to receive the best possible education. I graduated from the University of Athens but with the way successive governments and university administrations have reduced the university to an institution without merit (rife with nepotism with grants for research programs given on the basis of connections etc.) I was forced to look abroad for my postgraduate studies (as so many other Greek scientists).

I worked to cover half the costs, with the other half coming from my father’s savings.
After this, full of dreams I returned to Greece to specialize in the University Clinic in Athens. The knowledge and experience I had obtained abroad were ‘put to good use’ by my superiors for the care of their ‘clients’ and the increase of their own personal wealth. This, unfortunately, is the result of appointments being made through nepotism in the university and in the Greek National Health System (ESY), as well as the absence of effective oversight and assessments. Subsequently (after completing my specialization) I necessarily had to leave again with my wife in order to obtain further qualifications in the United Kingdom given that the training one receives in a Greek university clinic is enough to become a ‘good assistant’ (unfortunately in many hospitals of the ESY it doesn’t even reach this level due to the absences of assessments and substantive training). After 2 years in the UK I applied for the position of registrar in the ESY, first to the General State Hospital of Athens where unfortunately they had promised the position to someone else. At the Thriassio Hospital they never responded to me at all!! As such I remained in the UK out of necessity but I succeeded through the process of continuous assessments. I reached the position of consultant in the National Health System of England by the age of 37, not through influence and connections but through tough competition with other colleagues in a ‘foreign’ country.

As such I am personally offended by your behaviour and your arrogant reference to the ‘rich kids’ of London. For the majority of us, we live abroad out of necessity as the way that successive governments have treated education and health in our country there is no other option short of unemployment or under-employment (e.g. as an assistant to some ‘big name’ doctor).

I am sorry that you feel that you have more right (according to democracy) to speak because some people elected you. The same could be said by [imprisoned former minister] Tsochatzopoulos , Papandreou and others. You should be ashamed about the state of our country and if you are not ashamed then the people who elected you should be ashamed.

You should know, in any case, that we Greeks living abroad love and care about our country and on our vacations spend the money that we earn through hard work in our countries. Do not, through your provocative behavior, also change where we spend our holidays!

With regards,

Evangelos Mazaris MSc, MD, PhD, FES, FEBU
Consultant Urological Surgeon