ATHENS, GREECE (Catholic Online) - Five years into a deep recession and crumpling under the weight of oppressive austerity measures, the Greek government has been on the verge of collapse for months. The signs of this collapse abound. They are evident in the political elections, in the protests on the streets, and the country's crumbling infrastructure. Most tragically, it's now become evident in the hospitals. 

A lack of government funding has left doctors and hospitals without a way to pay their suppliers for even the most basic drugs and materials. Many doctors have made special arrangements with the drug companies to keep the most essential medicines coming into the country, but even those supplies aren't enough. 

A chief complaint is that pharmacists are being strangled in the process by a nightmarish backlog of unfilled state payments. Until they are paid by the government insurers, they  cannot afford to replenish their stocks.  Adding to the problem, is the Greek government's insistence on using patented brand-name drugs rather than generics, which makes the drugs more expensive-and therefore harder to get in a time of austerity. 

Many pharmacists have resorted to demanding payments up front for medications. Those that still allow credit have queues that can stretch outdoors. 

Many patients complain that the drugs they need are lifesaving and they still cannot get them. 
The Greek healthcare system was once rated as "relatively efficient" according to a report from Reuters, but many people have also had to provide "gifts" to medical staff to ensure quality care, showing the graft and corruption that can take hold in a government-managed system. 

Meanwhile, medical lobbies and labor unions have orchestrated a severe backlash to government cuts, making it nearly impossible for the government to control some of their costs. Excessive bureaucracy and poor organization make the system too expensive for its own good.

 Unfortunately, as it fails, it takes the lives of innocent people with it.

The same report from Reuters that credited the Greek medical system as being "relatively efficient" also reported on the repulsive sanitary conditions inside the same hospitals. Bed sheets must be reused, and other sanitary measures are cut.

Even then, many patients simply never get seen. 

The crisis in Greece is an example of a government-run healthcare system managed by professional bureaucrats appointed by whatever party was in charge at the time. It is a warning against such models of care. Adding to the cautionary tale, the United States, today still a very wealthy nation, continues to spend far more money than the government takes in. Swelling deficits, gridlocked government, a divided people, and a weak economy mean that the lessons being learned in Greece should be required reading for all Americans. 

© 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.