# Health question to all living in Greece!



## Gurminder (Nov 30, 2009)

What illness are people living in Greece prone to?
What precautions one must take during one's stay in Greece?


----------



## scoobie (May 25, 2009)

Gurminder said:


> What illness are people living in Greece prone to?
> What precautions one must take during one's stay in Greece?


Eating and drinking too much, seriously though, can not think of any. Have never been healthier with the fresh food and drinking loads of bottled water.
My mum lives with us and used to suffer from joint aches and pains, never has any problems anymore here. We live on a island with High Humidity, but have a dehumidifier so that solves that problem. Nothing healthier than sun and fresh air and fresh food. Maybe only at the beginning of summer and the end are people more prone to get colds due to the warm weather but early and quick temperature drops in the afternoon.


----------



## Gurminder (Nov 30, 2009)

scoobie said:


> Eating and drinking too much, seriously though, can not think of any. Have never been healthier with the fresh food and drinking loads of bottled water.
> My mum lives with us and used to suffer from joint aches and pains, never has any problems anymore here. We live on a island with High Humidity, but have a dehumidifier so that solves that problem. Nothing healthier than sun and fresh air and fresh food. Maybe only at the beginning of summer and the end are people more prone to get colds due to the warm weather but early and quick temperature drops in the afternoon.


Thanks a million for the reply Scoobie!.
I cant believe this. So are you saying that the people residing in Greece(Expats and locals)do not face any common health problems? 

I do know that people having High BP have a normal bp when in Greece but there must be some illnesses to which people living in greece are prone to. 
Can anyone else confirm scoobie's words. I want to be sure that its not an individual view but an overall view.

Also I wanted to know whether one can find good hospitals in Neo Fokia, Mudania area


----------



## Cairokid (Sep 15, 2009)

Gurminder said:


> Thanks a million for the reply Scoobie!.
> I cant believe this. So are you saying that the people residing in Greece(Expats and locals)do not face any common health problems?
> 
> I do know that people having High BP have a normal bp when in Greece but there must be some illnesses to which people living in greece are prone to.
> ...


I don't think there are any common health problems. 

However a lot of Greeks smoke and I would also guess the percentage of smokers among ex-pats is much higher than in their country of origin. (Its one of the not so good aspects of this country that you can go for a meal and find people puffing cigarettes at the next table!)

So I think the incidence of smoking-related diseases may be higher!

Generally though people's health improves here - lower cholestrol, BP, less arthritis. It is a healthy climate and diet and less hectic liefstyle for many.


----------



## Gurminder (Nov 30, 2009)

Cairokid said:


> I don't think there are any common health problems.
> 
> However a lot of Greeks smoke and I would also guess the percentage of smokers among ex-pats is much higher than in their country of origin. (Its one of the not so good aspects of this country that you can go for a meal and find people puffing cigarettes at the next table!)
> 
> ...


Hello Cairokid!
Your comments threw some light to me on what I can expect.
It seems that Greece is a health illness- free country which is very assuring.:clap2:

I think the only illness one may encounter are:
1-Obesity(because of over eating):hungry:
2-Indigestion or stomach aches (same reason)
3-Catch a Cold(during winter season)
4-Skin problems like some rashes etc based on fungul development(humidity)
5-Illness due to smoking (habbitual issue).

All in all it looks much better than anywhere else.

Some more questions I have:
1-Is Medical facility expensive in compared to other countries(UK/Germany etc)?
2-Are the facilities of high standards?
3-Since I am in Russia how can I go about with the health insurance stuff? Maybe i can get some payed insurance done so what may it cost me?

Aprreciate all views and comments!


----------



## Cairokid (Sep 15, 2009)

Obesity is only a recent problem, due to the availability of fast food. The traditional diet is very healthy.

Greeks eat much more slowly than their northern European counterparts so I don't think digestive troubles are common if you follow their example.

I don't know of anyone who has had problems due to humidity but then most people I know work in air-conditioned offices.

We pay into the Greek social security system, which gives us basic health cover. If we could afford it I would have private cover too but have been given very high quotes.

If you are an EU citizen you can get a health card to cover you for the first six months you are in another EU country and, if you have paid contributions to IKA here in Greece, you should be covered by it after six months.

This is my personal opinion from what I have seen so far of health services here. 

Greek doctors are usually very well qualified initially (more than in many countries) as they spend more years training and often go abroad for part of this, but they do not all have regular ongoing training. They may not be familiar with the newest techniques and treatments, especially in surgery.

You often have to wait quite a long time, often over an hour, to see an IKA doctor. They tend not to have receptionists and nurses in the surgery - just one or two doctors who do everything themselves.

This may be why the heatlh service here is very cheap. It's one of the cheapest in Europe but it does not make it very efficient.

You are responsible for much of your own care - arranging tests, keeping x-rays and test results and a record of medicines you take. In the UK the 'system' takes care of a lot of this and information about your past health is available on computer. 

You'll only find computers in private doctor's offices here in my experience.

It is pretty cheap to pay to see a doctor privately here if you don't have IKA (about 20 euro locally - dont know about big ciites) so I usually do this to avoid the queues and taking time off work. Private doctors normally have evening consultations as well as morning ones.

Medical tests are also cheap - I think an x-ray is about 25 euro, urine test 20 euro for instance.

Many medicines are available over the counter and drugs are cheaper than in the UK but more expensive than in some countries.

State hospitals are much cleaner than those in the UK and on a par with Belgium (they are the only two countires whose state hospitals I have knowledge of) but their facilities and equipment are not always as good or up to date.

Private hospitals seem to be of a similar qualitty to those elsewhere in Europe with the exception of nurse training.

Nursing is the weakest part of medical care here, with few specialist nurses in hospitals such as you would find on wards in the UK or Belgium. They get general training but are not given on-going specialist trainng and take far less responsibility for patient care and monitoring. The idea of the graduate nurse has not arrived in Greece yet as far as I am aware.

Many places have medical centres that offer free treatment, especially for emergencies. I have found these and their staff to be very good.

The biggest problem health wise is that the family is expected to provide most of the basic health care when a family member is ill or in hospital. They organise a rota to be with the patient, take in food, help them with washing and dressing etc.

This can be difficult for foreigners as we typically do not have a large network of family on hand to assist. It is possible to pay for additional nursing care and you can buy insurance to cover this.

I can't advise you about your own particular circumstances but you could contact some companies offering health insurance to see what they say.


----------



## Gurminder (Nov 30, 2009)

Cairokid said:


> Obesity is only a recent problem, due to the availability of fast food. The traditional diet is very healthy.
> 
> Greeks eat much more slowly than their northern European counterparts so I don't think digestive troubles are common if you follow their example.
> 
> ...


Satisfied by your comments and I must show you immense gratitude for such a concrete and wide visioned reply. Thank you once again!


----------

