15 January 2007

Greek Hospitality Hospital


I found a place where no one is lifting a cigarette to thier mouth in long puffs of smoke.....
The Local Hospital
yep... I guess the people of Greece don't want their doctors to know that they smoke. Even though you will find people smoking as they walk down the street, as they eat at the restaurant, when they work (this is the worst when you walk into a shop and a cloud of smoke blows out of the door when you open it). Luckily I have only seen our butcher eat while cutting our lamb and not smoking, but customers will smoke in the shop.

So Why Was I at our local Hospital? Well, Arthur was tired of me hacking up a lung at home and doing nothing but sleep and eat for almost a week so he decided to show me the Greek medical hospitality to foriegn travelers. This takes one word
FREE...FREE...FREE...
Yep, if you happen to be traveling through greece and have an accident or get sick or just feel like going to a hospital, well its free. Of course there is small print, you will have to pay for the medicine, but the doctors time and diagnoses is free. I paid 25euros for my anti-biotics and cough syrup, Arthur was telling me that he knew a traveler who only paid 7euros when he broke his leg here and the hospital had to put a cast on it. Foriegners do take advantage of the system, unfortunately, but luckily enough for me they still have this wonderful system in place. So feel free to visit me anytime and feel comforted in knowing that I will take care of any of your medical needs while you are here to see me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally an answer to your health insurance challenge :) You only had to go 7,000 miles away for us to stop worrying about you... Get well soon.

Jon said...

that's pretty neat. I think I will have to remember that and plan all my adventure activities in Greece. Basejumping off from the porch of the monastery at Meteoras, climbing the rocks behind Koka Roka, taste testing uncooked shellfish, and my "Look Mom no Hands" bicycle tour of Greece among others. Seriously, though that's a nice gesture.
Hope the weather is nice, its freezing in Wacky Waco.