| With regard to rural health care delivery, Greece has many characteristics in common with developing countries. Foremost among them is the distribution of health manpower, since medical graduates are generally loathe to practice in rural villages. A severe shortage of nurses-only 20% of whom were fully qualified at the time this book was written - hampers the staffing of facilities. This shortage also means that inadequate care is offered by some hospitals and clinics and that rural areas still lag behind urban centres in maternal an patients traveling great distances to institutions in which they have greater confidence. Following an agreement between the Greek government, WHO, and UNICEF, a pilot project was set up in 1959 to conduct demonstrations, training, and investigation in s social health. The Thessaly Health Experiment supplies transportation for doctors and nurses from rural health centres to villages not directly served by these institutions. Doctors and nurses then seek out patients, treat them, send for a specialist, or medical care, the experiment comprises programmes in maternal and child health, mental health, dental care, venereal disease control, tuberculosis control, cancer detection, malaria control, environmental sanitation, inspection and control of premises wh and health education. The author feels that this experiment could serve as a model for the whole country if some modifications, such as the utilization of auxiliary workers, were introduced. |