By James Angelos
The island of Zakynthos, long known for its Venetian ruins and turquoise waters, lately has new fame in Greece — as “the island of the blind.” The Greek health ministry is investigating on Zakynthos after local officials flagged records showing what they said is an implausibly high number of disability claims for blindness.
About 1.8% of the island’s population of 39,000 claimed the benefit last year, according to the health ministry. That is around nine times the prevalence of blindness estimated for many European countries in a 2004 study published in a World Health Organization journal.
Zakynthos has become a symbol for the widespread corruption that has played a part in the nation’s financial downfall. “It appears the ‘blind’ of Zakynthos saw only the color of money,” said an article in the Greek newspaper Ethnos.
But the island is hardly alone, according to health ministry officials, who say fraudulent disability claims are a problem across the nation, costing the government hundreds of millions of euros a year.
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