Once home to a thriving shipbuilding industry, the port city of Perama near Athens has seen its fortunes wane over the years as buyers abandoned it for cheaper options outside Greece.
The country’s financial crisis is the latest blow – pushing up unemployment in the area to 60 percent, triple the national average.
Without health insurance or money for fees at state facilities, many of the town’s 25,000 residents have begun flocking to a free clinic set up by Doctors of the World seeking medical care and, lately, staples like milk and bread. The clinic was set up two years ago to treat poor immigrants. Instead, it now finds that 80 percent of its patients are Greeks struggling to get by. Doctors say many of them cannot even afford the bus fare to the local hospital.
A large chunk of the town’s residents live on less than 200 euros ($270) a month, the medical charity said.
