Greece was hit by the first nationwide strike in 2012 on Monday, as doctors and pharmacists launched a fresh wave of mobilizations against austerity and reform measures prescribed by the government to tackle a severe debt crisis.

All public hospitals across the country will run on skeleton personnel until Thursday, while pharmacies will be closed till Wednesday in protest of a package of new changes in the health and social care sector aimed to save billions of euros in the debt-ridden country.

Doctors denounced a decision to limit medicine prescriptions they can issue, while pharmacists object to a planned reduction on the margin of profit on medicines sales by a further three percent.

They claim that they are already struggling to keep afloat amidst deep recession and a wave of harsh tax hikes over the past two years, as social security funds in the meantime owe them millions of euros.

Greek Health Minister Andreas Loverdos and other cabinet members, on the other hand, argue that the measures are imperative as part of a wider stability and development program agreed with international creditors in 2010 to slash deficits, address chronic waste of state funds and overcome the crisis.

EU/IMF creditors have been adding pressure on the interim three-party administration of Lucas Papademos to accelerate the implementation of the measures in early 2012, particularly structural reforms, to secure further aid.

In mid-January, EU/IMF auditors are expected to return to Athens for a regular round of deliberations on the pace of the reforms.

In the meantime, Greek officials are continuing the tough negotiations with bankers on the 50-percent write-down of the Greek debt owned by the private sector as part of an euro zone agreement reached on Oct. 27 to counter the Greek crisis.