MONTREAL – The recent report by The National Herald, on the influx of new immigrants from Greece to Canada, has prompted the interest of the President of the Panhellenic Veterinary Association, Athena Trachili, a member of the Political Committee of New Democracy.
Trachili, told TNH, that the so-called brain drain, i.e. the flight abroad of Greeks with important degrees and high-level education, marks the “slow death of the country” and the current government’s silence on the subject or tendency to downplay the situation in order to reinforce its argument that “things are being corrected in Greece” when the reverse is true about the economic and social situation.
“The reality is exactly what TNH described. And in my opinion, perhaps, a little worse,” Trachili. Adding that prolonged unemployment, the lack of prospects, and the uncertainty experienced by many young scientists and scholars, are pushing many of them to look for a way out abroad, with first choice countries where they can find relatives, friends, colleagues, or just an invitation to work with decent pay and professional stability.
“Until recently in Greece we said that every family had an unemployed person. Now, unfortunately, we say every family has a new immigrant,” noted Trachili. As President of the Panhellenic Veterinary Association and head of one of the four health representative bodies of the country (the other three are the Panhellenic Associations of Doctors, Dentists, and Pharmacists), Trachili has a clear picture of the flight of thousands of Greek healthcare professionals abroad from 2011 and after.
For example, only the Medical Association of Athens has issued more than 9,500 certificates to its member doctors who decided to leave abroad from 2010 until the end of 2016. The top destination was Great Britain, followed by northern and central European countries, and also the United States or Canada.
“As far as veterinary surgeons are concerned, I can tell you that the certificates we have issued in recent years, for colleagues who have chosen to look for their future beyond the borders, are more than 350. And with an upward trend,” Trachili said.
Most Greek vets choose countries such as Great Britain, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai, as well as countries in northern Europe, where the working conditions for their scientific specialization are more comfortable – and more reasonable – than the suffocating environment in Greece, where contributions, taxes, and other costs absorb the bulk of their meager income.
The President of the Panhellenic Veterinary Association has roots from Achaia and Aitoloakarnania. And she has a good knowledge of what is happening in these two areas of Western Greece.
“I do not hide it. I hear it almost everyday, in the cities or in the countryside, about someone who has left or is about to leave. Most children, I feel, follow the urge of their parents to tell them that under the current conditions there is no future in Greece. And they seek, through relatives and friends abroad, a first helping hand until they can stand on their feet there and gain independence. That’s why I was impressed by your report that made this point through the eponymous testimonies of Greek expatriates,” Trachili told TNH.
She was born in Patras in 1966 and comes from Galatas, Aitoloakarnania. In 1984, she was admitted to the Veterinary School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where she received her degree in 1991. She then completed postgraduate studies at the Surgical Clinic of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and at the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Milan in Italy, where she also worked in a private clinic.
From 1994 until today Trachili has been running a private veterinary clinic in Patras and has been the president of Greek veterinarians since 2005.
In the last elections – with a list – she accepted the position of the last post on the New Democracy ballot in Achaia and was recently elected to the Political Committee of the party.
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