hospitals

Greek prosecutors have brought criminal corruption charges related to state hospital purchases from DePuy, a subsidiary of U.S. healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson.

Sales of pharmaceutical products fell by 15.8 in value and by 12 pct in volume in the January-November period last year, hit by a dispute between pharmacists and health authorities, a report by sector analyst IMS said.

The head of the Thessaloniki public prosecutors' department Evangelos Mademlis on Monday order the start of a preliminary inquiry into the deaths of four infants at the city's "Papageorgiou" neonatal clinic.

International drug companies have offered to cap the total amount the Greek government has to pay for its medicines in a bid to resolve a crisis that is jeopardizing both the supply of drugs to patients and drugmakers' profits.

German pharmaceuticals firm Merck KGaA is no longer delivering cancer drug Erbitux to Greek hospitals, a spokesman said on Saturday, the latest sign of how an economic and budget crisis is hurting frontline public services.

Greece's rundown state hospitals are cutting off vital drugs, limiting non-urgent operations and rationing even basic medical materials for exhausted doctors as a combination of economic crisis and political stalemate strangle health funding.

Despite the punishing economic crisis in the country, instances of petty corruption are still widely reported in Greece, particularly in the public sector, namely, hospitals, tax offices and construction licensing bodies.