In front of the school on the small Greek island of Sikinos, two large lorries have just come to a halt after a crossing of more than eight hours on a ferry subject to the swell of the Aegean Sea in winter.
The doors of the first truck open onto a dental office and a mammography booth. In the other vehicle, obstetrician-gynecologist Panagiotis Thomopoulos awaits his first patients.
"We perform all routine gynecological examinations and colposcopies or pap smears" to screen for cervical cancer, explains the doctor who works during the week in a hospital in Athens.
For ten years, every weekend except in summer, these trucks converted into medical practices have been providing free care to residents of islands and remote regions.
A fragmented country, Greece is made up of more than two hundred inhabited islands, some of which have only a handful of permanent residents.
Financed by the powerful Stavros Niarchos Foundation, which is also building three ultramodern hospitals in Greece and renovating large hospitals in Athens, these medical heavyweights are partly filling the state's gaps.
From Athens to the Aegean islands, there are endless complaints about the disintegration of public healthcare provision since the financial crisis that shook Greece.
The NGO “Doctors of the Egee” also comes to the aid of the islanders.
– “Vulnerable” –
With 1,874 euros per capita in 2021, the country spent less than half of the average total health expenditure in the EU, according to an OECD report.
In this remote land of the Cyclades archipelago, "we have no hospital, no specialist doctor, no medical equipment," the mayor, Vassilis Marakis, told AFP. "We feel vulnerable."
In winter, the island, which has remained far from tourism, has fewer than two hundred inhabitants. In the narrow streets that wind around the blue-domed church, cats have taken over.
At the cafe, a Christmas tree flashes in front of a few elderly regulars who are commenting on the day's football match. The taverns are closed.
In case of medical emergency, "you have to evacuate the person by helicopter," the mayor continues. In winter, the vagaries of the weather can cut off some islands from the world for several days.
Even for the injuries, fevers or ear infections of the 17 children attending school in Sikinos, the difficulties in accessing care are problematic.
"You have to take a half-hour boat ride to see the pediatrician (on the neighboring island) in Ios," explains Paraskevi Karayianni, a 41-year-old nursery nurse and mother of a four-and-a-half-year-old child.
"We have to call him and he puts us first," she adds.
– “Real pharmacy” –
"I have a real pharmacy at home that goes from basic medicines to antibiotics," she explains.
For this mission in Sikinos, the medical team has 18 people, including a cardiologist, an ENT specialist and an ophthalmologist.
Some 60 residents of Sikinos have made two or three appointments for various consultations, according to Elisabeth Kyritsi, the team's chief coordinator.
In a classroom whose walls mark the major dates in Greek history, a nurse takes blood samples. Seated behind a blue screen, orthopedist Alexandra Koukoutsi inspects the tired knees of "Madame Kalliopi."
"The biggest challenge for us is that we don't have anything to accompany the care like physiotherapy. We have to find other solutions," emphasizes Alexandra Koukoutsi, recommending exercises to her elderly patient.
The rate of unmet medical care in Greece (9.01% of cases) is "considerably higher than the EU average" (2.21% of cases), the OECD diagnosed in 2023.
On these remote islands, the medical team also encounters specific problems. "Some women have never consulted a gynecologist because of the taboo that can still prevail in the older population," emphasizes Panagiotis Thomopoulos.
The cost of transportation for a consultation in Athens or a large city can sometimes be prohibitive.
However, the action of the medical trucks is decisive. On another island, the gynecologist diagnosed uterine cancer in a patient.
"I sent her to a colleague in (the big city of) Thessaloniki. She was operated on," he continued. And "we saved her."
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