Greece, Lesbos, The Greek government denies the care essential to seriously ill children

the ROME – "A climate xenofobico powered by the Greek government. Here's the air you breathe here in Lesvos". In the field of Moria on the Greek island, the political authorities of Athens are deliberately denying the possibility of receiving adequate medical treatment to at least 140 children, with chronic, complex and potentially life-threatening. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) calls on the government to intervene, evacuating all seriously ill children on the mainland, in Greece or within the european Union, where they can receive the assistance they urgently need .

"The reluctance of the Greek government is shameful" . “We see many children affected by diseases, such as serious heart problems, diabetes, or asthma, is forced to live in makeshift shelters, in conditions that are horrible and unsanitary, with no access to specialised medical care and medicines they need”, he tells us, Victory Zingariello, head of the team of nurses from MSF to Lesvos - we are discussing with the Greek authorities on the transfer of children requiring urgent medical treatment but, have, however, been examined in a few cases, yet no one has left the island. The reluctance of the Greek government to find a quick solution and systemic for these children, including some infants, said Zingariello - is not only shameful, but could also result in irreparable injury to the state of their health, if not lead them even to death”.

more Than 55,000 people without assistance. In July 2019, the Greek government has revoked the access to public health care for asylum seekers and people without documents that arrive in the country, leaving over 55,000 men, women and children without likelihood of cure. By march 2019, as the doctors of the paediatric clinic of MSF, outside the camp of Moria in Lesbos, have seen more than 270 children with chronic diseases and complex, including heart problems, epilepsy and diabetes. MSF is not able to provide specialised treatments for these pathologies, which, however, did not find suitable answers even at the public hospital on the island of Lesbos, unable to attend such a large number of patients, in addition to not have some specialty services.

The demands of Doctors Without Borders
- the immediate evacuation by Lesbos of all the people with chronic diseases and complex, giving priority to children and establishing a system of regular transfers to accommodation and close to facilities able to provide specialised medical care;

- the urgent and immediate access to free health care and treatment timely and appropriate for all asylum seekers, unaccompanied minors and people without papers in Greece;

- the end of the containment policies that trap the Greek islands, in horrible conditions and inhuman, refugees, and asylum seekers.

the STORIES COLLECTED BY DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS

An autistic child. “My 6 year old daughter, Zahra, suffers from autism and we live in a tiny open space, and virtually no electricity -tells Shamseyeh, coming from the Afghanistan, one of the more than 19,000 people in the field of Moria, equipped to accommodate no more than 3,000 people - often in the middle of the night has seizures and there is no one to help us. I want to live in a place where my daughter can play with other children and be treated by a good doctor”. In the last four years, MSF has repeatedly denounced the human tragedy in course to Moria, deliberately created by the policies of containment in Europe. The current situation highlights, once again, as the agreement between the EU and Turkey, to 2016 is creating unnecessary suffering and endangering lives.

Mohamed , 3 years, brain dysfunction, lives in a tent. “I don't do anything to help him sice his mother - I shall limit myself to cry. It only has 3 years old, suffers from a brain dysfunction. Have a headache constantly and doesn't talk much. We try to get him to talk, but every time she tries mumbled. At the moment we are living in a tent, without electricity or heating, planted olive trees adjacent to Moria. The bathrooms and showers are far away and not enough hot to wash Mohammed, so I will wash it only once every two weeks. The doctor suggested us to keep a good hygiene, but for us it is impossible. We try to keep our tent clean, but when it rains there is mud everywhere. As a mother, I don't mind myself, I only care of my children. When Mohammed is complaining about the headaches caused by the disease, I know that I can not do anything to help him. I limit myself to cry. We've been here three and a half months and all the doctors who have visited Mohammed said that he would really need to be transferred over to the mainland to receive the care they need, but we are still here to Moria”.

The testimony of Raido, the mother of Abdul, paralyzed . “I'm a single mother, locked in the island of Lesvos, and I can't even treat my son. The local hospital told me that there are no specialist care for my son, Abdul, and that we were supposed to move into a larger structure. I have a sick child, totally paralyzed, the epileptic, and who is no longer able even to sleep. So far no one has been able to help me here. I'm a single mother with three other children. We are all here, stuck in Lesvos”. Raido, 27 years old from Somalia, is a mother of four children and is single. He lived nearly 4 months in the field of Moria, while in the 3 months living in an apartment near the field. Her husband died before she took the decision to come in Greece. Not receiving any help for his son, who is paralyzed, and in the island of Lesbos, there are specialized doctors that can help him.

The work of MSF in Greece, since 1996. MSF provides medical assistance and humanitarian asylum-seekers and migrants in Greece since 1996. From 2014, MSF has expanded its operations in Greece to respond to the needs of a growing number of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants coming from Turkey and from 2016 provides basic medical care, treatments for chronic diseases, psychological counseling and psychiatric treatment, together with a comprehensive package of social support. Currently the team of MSF working on the islands of Lesbos, Samos and Chios and Athens.

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