“We carry out all the routine gynaecological examinations and colposcopies or smear tests” for cervical cancer screening, explained the doctor, who is employed at an Athens hospital.
Converted into medical examination units, the trucks are part of a campaign funded over the past decade by the Stavros Niarchos foundation, one of Greece’s most powerful philanthropic institutions, to bring free care to the inhabitants of remote islands and regions.
The initiative runs every weekend outside the summer months.
Health spending, fundraising
Greece is a fragmented country made up of thousands of islands, some of which have only a handful of permanent residents.
The country’s health sector suffered mightily during the debt crisis that ravaged Greece from 2010 to 2018, and is far from fully recovering.
