A Greek Tragedy: Families Abandon Children in the Streets as Euro Crisis Hits Nadir

Photo Courtesy: The Daily Mail

A Greek tragedy is unfolding, as the Mediterranean nation struggles with economic disaster and unendurable austerity measures as the Euro crisis continues unabated.

Families have now taken to abandoning their sick or disabled children in the streets, as they are unable to afford health care or to provide food or shelter for their own offspring. The Daily Mail reports that children are being left abandoned in hospitals and shelters in record numbers since the economic super-crisis began in 2008, as Greece has found itself on the verge of defaulting on trillions of dollars of debt the country owes to other nations.

Civil unrest and riots gripped the nation early last year, as tough new austerity measures were introduced by the government in response to the crisis, as the country careened to the brink of economic collapse. Reports now say that the nation is also rapidly running out of important medicines and even basic staples such as aspirin are difficult to find on pharmacy shelves.


Pharmacists are struggling to stock their shelves as the Greek government, which sets the prices for drugs, keeps them artificially low. This means that pharmaceutical companies are turning to sell the drugs outside of the country for a higher price in order to turn a profit, leading to stock depletion for Greeks in need of medication. Pharmacists report spending hours on the telephone, desperately trying to locate needed medications for sick and suffering patients, many times to no avail. 


As the crisis deepens, other European nations are promoting the idea of Greece leaving the currency, in a last ditch effort to save the Euro and avert catastrophic economic collapse throughout the continent.