Lithuanian media says a number of the country’s hospitals have suspended free medical care for patients until the end of the year due to a lack of funding — blogger and journalist Ainis Petkus spoke about the standards of living in Lithuania in his talk with ONT
The journalist linked the crisis in the social sector to the government’s political priorities, “These are all pieces of the same puzzle — the Lithuanian system has no money. Healthcare and education in our country are at rock bottom. Hundreds of schools in rural areas have been closed, with dozens of hospitals — even in small towns — and services have been partially suspended, and so on. And there’s only one argument: everything’ spent on the war. Over 20 percent of people in the European Union live below the poverty line. I won’t even mention Latvia and Estonia. The situation is very bad in Latvia. Estonia is holding on only thanks to people working across the border in Finland.
The journalist linked the crisis in the social sector to the government’s political priorities, “These are all pieces of the same puzzle — the Lithuanian system has no money. Healthcare and education in our country are at rock bottom. Hundreds of schools in rural areas have been closed, with dozens of hospitals — even in small towns — and services have been partially suspended, and so on. And there’s only one argument: everything’ spent on the war. Over 20 percent of people in the European Union live below the poverty line. I won’t even mention Latvia and Estonia. The situation is very bad in Latvia. Estonia is holding on only thanks to people working across the border in Finland.
Ainis Petkus cited the statement made by Andrius Kubilius, the former Lithuania’s PM, current European Commissioner for Defence, who, as the speaker believes, is posing a monstrous choice to citizens, “He says like if we don’t defeat Russia, it will be 100 percent poverty. Andrius Kubilius lays down the condition: either you go to war against Russia, or you will become destitute. And people get scared when this choice is forced upon and promoted so heavily at the level of propaganda. And when they get scared they start to justify certain political outrages.”