Why are we there?
- Healthcare exclusion
Latest links
- Greece: MSF denounces Greek authorities’ decision to detain migrants indefinitely
- The Irish Times: Migrants in Greece being held in unacceptable conditions, says MSF
- MSF: Greece must end systematic and prolonged detention of migrants
Our work
This is an extract from our latest Activity Report, looking back on our work in the previous year.
2013
Undocumented migrants and asylum seekers in Greece face long periods of detention in centres with limited access to basic services and healthcare.
Migrants and asylum seekers of all ages can find themselves summarily arrested and confined in detention centres for up to 18 months. They have little or no opportunity to communicate with their families, and their physical and mental health often deteriorates.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has responded to the situation by providing medical consultations and psychosocial support to people being held at detention centres in Komotini, Filakio and Drama, and in the police stations of Feres, Soufli, Tychero and North Iasmos.
Items including clothes, sleeping bags, towels and soap have also been distributed in centres to help people maintain a basic level of hygiene, health and dignity. These activities were handed over to the Hellenic Center for Disease Control and Prevention in April.
Five months later, MSF resumed assistance at Filakio and Komotini, and Feres, Soufli and North Iasmos as no medical or humanitarian assistance was being provided by the authorities. The team also responded to two outbreaks of scabies – a parasitic skin infestation that spreads rapidly in crowded conditions – in the detention facilities. More than 2,000 people were treated between January and April and September and December.
Healthcare out of reach
The financial crisis in Greece has led to the country’s health budget being cut by almost 40 per cent, and state funds for medication have also been almost halved. As a consequence there is limited availability of medicine, not only for vulnerable groups like the unemployed and the uninsured, but also for the general population.
In October, an MSF team began assisting people in need of healthcare at food distribution centres in Athens. On-the-spot care, including medical consultations, hospital referrals and psychosocial referrals for shelter and legal assistance were provided. Many patients were unemployed or elderly.
Freezing temperatures in early 2013 led authorities to open temporary emergency shelters to accommodate homeless people in Athens, and MSF launched an emergency intervention in January.
At the end of 2013, MSF had 12 field staff in Greece. MSF has been providing medical assistance in the country since 2008.
Greece is a key entry point for refugees and migrants making the journey to Europe. Fleeing countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, and Congo, thousands continue to risk their lives.
Médecins Sans Frontières has provided medical and humanitarian assistance to migrants and refugees in Greece since 1996. Migrants and refugees continue to be the focus of MSF activities on the Greek mainland and the islands of Lesbos, Samos and Chios.
Refugees in Greece fall through the cracks of systemic care, suffering from an absence of medical and psychosocial support.
Migrants making the journey across the Mediterranean
MSF activities expanded in 2014 to meet the needs of the increasing numbers reaching the Greek shores from Turkey. Since the closure of the Balkan route and the EU deal with Turkey in March 2016, many have been prevented from leaving the Greek islands while waiting for a decision on their claim for asylum.
The asylum process is opaque; migrants and refugees have been left stranded, without access to basic services, adequate shelter or information on their legal status. Those who reach the mainland often live in inadequate conditions, waiting for their refugee status or relocation to camps or flats.
Asylum seekers travelling to Europe experience the detrimental physical and mental health effects of prolonged detention, the lack of necessary care or interruption of treatment. MSF’s goal is to assist refugees in maintaining a basic level of hygiene, health and dignity.
Our attention is focused on Greece’s Dodecanese islands, where many refugees first make land in desperate conditions, and on the border with Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Greek "Prison" Islands
The number of migrants arriving on Lesbos sharply decreased after the signing of the EU-Turkey deal. For those who have made the journey, the Greek government enforces a policy of containment, resulting in thousands of men, women and children in Lesbos living in limbo in squalid, overcrowded conditions, with insufficient access to health care.
Thousands of people, the majority of whom fled wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, are detained behind layers of razor wire, locked up without charge, many beyond the maximum 25 day period, and in putrid spaces designed to temporarily host people for only a few days.
Moria camp is both unsafe and unsanitary, especially for children. Every day we treat many hygiene-related conditions such as vomiting, diarrhoea, skin infections and other infectious diseases, and we must then return these people to the same risky living conditions. It’s an unbearable vicious circle.
MSF deploys rescue teams to give first aid, distribute relief items such as meals, blankets, clothes and tents, and provide transport to people who need to reach the camps and medical facilities further inland.
A team organised outreach activities in Moria camp on Lesbos Island to identify specific vulnerabilities and mental health needs. The needs of the most vulnerable (namely children) are not being met due to a lack of resources. The demand for our sexual and reproductive health service is also increasing.
Mainland Greece
MSF has been running three clinics in Athens to respond to the specific needs of migrants and refugees. MSF provides sexual and reproductive healthcare, treatment for chronic diseases and mental health support. Teams have also started operating a travel medicine clinic to provide support to people moving on from Athens.
MSF offers comprehensive care to survivors of torture and other forms of violence. In a clinic run in collaboration with Day Centre Babel and the Greek Council for Refugees, implements a multidisciplinary approach including medical and mental healthcare, physiotherapy, social assistance and legal support.
Mobile teams also operate in the wider Attika region around Athens, as well as Central Greece.
Search and Rescue
Our search and rescue activities in the Mediterranean Sea have saved many of those making the dangerous journey crossing from Africa and the Middle East to Europe. Find out more at: searchandrescue.msf.org
