As far as I’m aware, all of these patients are still alive. There has been no reliable electricity in the camp for more than two-and-a-half months now (with 20,000 people trying to use a grid made for 3,000, it constantly trips and cannot be relied upon for any period of time), and the threat of violence and sexual violence is incredibly high. This was my third time there – and my most shocking. We prioritise the boy with the central chest stab as he appears to be having repeated apnoeic episodes. He did not say, however, that the fires were a deliberate act of arson aimed at destroying the camp. Any chronic problems are advised to come back to doctors working in the daytime: this clinic is for acute care only, for emergencies only. All 400 children have now been flown to the Greek mainland. We make up the clinic team, and respond together as the crowds enter. The names of patients to be seen are written on a whiteboard in order of priority and we call them inside one by one. I have not done a special job here. There is also strong resistance from locals for a new camp to house them. We keep going. And the madness continues. I can’t comprehend it. This is not abnormal. As the ambulance arrives, we beg them to come down to the clinic gates to minimise the time transferring the boys in the freezing cold. In Moria, this is not the case. What are you still seeing? Version française plus bas/French version below. This is a classic picture of a panic attack associated with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and a common presentation to the clinic. The hubbub created by another “red” patient draws close and echoes around outside the clinic. Considering the outright violation of human rights and the grave medical and psychiatric needs we face every day, it is clear that Moria camp is in a state of emergency. Just as I start examining the child, I can hear shouting and the sound of someone being dragged along the gravel outside. It has become a place of violence, deprivation, suffering and despair. We assessed and stabilised them all and got them to hospital. After a fire destroyed that camp, the two women were repatriated to the Kara Tepe camp, along with more than 6,000 other people. The fires started hours after reports that 35 people had tested positive for Covid-19 at the camp. Most of them have made a treacherous journey to come to this unsafe place; 40% of them are children. I want to tell you about one day in the life of the little portable cabin clinic where I worked. We have only two oxygen tanks so rotate them in response to clinical need. I continue, with the help of my translator, to see patients in the “yellow” queue, mostly children with fevers, adults with abdominal pain, pregnant women, minors with scabies. We carry crash bags and emergency drugs to the clinic every day in rucksacks and have them in A1 – the emergency care room – where any “red” patients are taken for emergencies that day. EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson said on Wednesday that the EU had agreed to finance the transfer of the minors to the mainland and their accommodation. VideoCovid-19: The disinformation tactics used by China, Call My Agent star joins plea to reopen French theatres, 'I can't change my gender unless I'm sterilised' Video'I can't change my gender unless I'm sterilised', A shrinking river sparks a fight for water access, ‘Please don’t lend Kenya more money’. Apparently they went to a neighbour’s tent where a fire was lit for warmth after sundown, and have been exposed to carbon monoxide for a sustained period of time. Because there is no electricity in the camp, the darkness outside is engulfing. At the end of our clinic time, the responsibility for the medical care of patients in the camp is down to a lone “army doctor”, who cannot be accessed by patients unless the police deem them to have a serious enough medical problem. I kept a diary of the cases I saw, thinking it would be cathartic after the chaos to read through one or two major incidents, for personal processing purposes. There has been no reliable electricity in the camp for more than two-and-a-half months now (with 20,000 people trying to use a grid made for 3,000, it constantly trips and cannot be relied upon for any period of time), and the threat of violence and sexual violence is incredibly high. “Green” patients need urgent care; “yellow” patients are severely unwell with abnormal vital signs and require a full examination on a bed; “red” emergency patients usually suffer from major panic attacks, extreme pain, collapses and, increasingly, life-threatening stab wounds or the results of other violence. UNHCR has extensive video coverage of the situation on Lesvos available at Refugees Media, including these recent videos. Moria refugee camp is at breaking point; the situation is about to implode. I call the febrile child in. They come with infected wounds that need cleaning and bandaging; they have minimal access to clean water out in the olive grove areas. We switch the oxygen tank to him, while stabilising the other boy’s bleeding, and plan how to extricate both on stretchers from the tiny clinic room. On a car park outside a supermarket on Thursday, hundreds of migrants, including families with small children, waited for bottled water and food to be distributed. Even those of us with contacts in other NGOs and with lawyers cannot work it out. Images of Moria refugee camp taken in July 2017 and January 2020 illustrate the population explosion. There, he has been supporting a local initiative called "Stand By Me Lesvos“. There are four beds against the walls that can be pulled out in case of emergencies to allow access around the entire patient. After visiting the area on Thursday, European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas announced that the devastated camp would be replaced by a modern facility at the same location. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said France and Germany would each accept between 100 and 150 of the children. One stabbing like this in London would receive emergency trauma care from a highly trained team, probably in a major trauma centre. A translator looks at the large queue of refugees through the door of the clinic before triage. In terms of mental health help for refugees, there are currently two referral pathways for the more severe end of the spectrum, but each takes time and depends on exposure to violence, sexual violence, and previous history. BRF doctors from the Netherlands and Belgium – Mirjam Wubs, Lisanne Schreuder Goedheijt with translator Nourullah Ishaqzi, Lucie Blondé, and Mariëtte de Reeper – work in the “green” area. This once again brought to the forefront of people’s minds, the desperate situation of many people fleeing their native countries and seeking asylum abroad. We are fortunate to have a psychiatric nurse in our team, and once any more sinister pathology is excluded, we move the man to a back room to rest and be reviewed by her, to plan onward referral and care. InfoMigrants went to meet some of them last week. People queue in the dark from 6:30 to try to get help. "There is no food, no milk for the baby," Congolese migrant Natzy Malala, who had a newborn infant and an eight-year-old girl, told Reuters news agency. We see the next patients. We must open the conversation once more, we must consider taking responsibility for our fellow humans. Little did I know how much the events from just one day would catch in my throat on re-reading. Read about our approach to external linking. "We've faced this situation for five years, it's time for others to bear this burden." "The people in Moria are exposed to … I get a sense of desperation and hostility, not usually played out, but always at the back of my mind. Covid-19: The disinformation tactics used by China. This time two young men from the sections for unaccompanied minors are dragged in between friends, gasping and covered in blood. Military personnel, riot police and water cannon have arrived at the scene. They are triaged at the door by one medic alongside a translator in Farsi and Arabic. The suffering is palpable, the hopelessness is insidious, the feeling of abandonment is all-consuming. She has waited patiently in line in the cold. Many local Greeks too want the migrants to leave the island. We do not know where he is and we do not know the details of his rejection. "We don't want another camp, and we will oppose any construction work," local leader Vangelis Violatzis was quoted as saying. As more and more countries are going into quarantine to slow down the spread of the coronavirus, there is one place on the planet where the situation could well become even more catastrophic than in the rest of the world: the Moria refugees camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, off the Turkish coast. They strongly oppose plans to rebuild a temporary camp. He looks at the floor, apologises for attending, but asks for help. Moria is within a former military base surrounded by olive groves. The Moria camp was initially designed to house 3,000 migrants. We are busy today, as we are every day; there are a lot of people to see. What happens to your body in extreme heat? December 14. The men have been running with him unconscious in the blanket for 10 minutes to reach the medical area. The Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos has burned to the ground. To get to the cabin, she has had to walk through the camp on the side of a steep hill, weaving between UNHCR and makeshift tents, past the falafel store, the Wave of Hope for the Future school with its new library, past the barbers and people doing their washing, past the rubbish that hasn’t been cleared for a month, past the gang of wild dogs barking and running after her. There is also strong resistance from locals for a new camp to house … We now have only one oxygen tank as we used the other on the children with carbon monoxide poisoning. Meanwhile, some migrants told BBC Persian that the fire had broken out after scuffles between migrants and Greek forces at the camp. By that time the situation was already degrading and inhuman, urging him to call for immediate action: “A broader international consensus and an assistance programme are urgently needed to uphold the rule of law, to defend human rights in this unsustainable situation, to protect minorities, combat human trafficking, to eliminate … As I go to inflate the blood pressure cuff, he opens his eyes and screams – a long, sustained scream, followed by extreme hyperventilation and rigidity in his arms. The Netherlands has already pledged to accept 50 and Finland will take 11. I have no solution, but I want to give a voice to these silenced people, and hope there is a willing audience prepared to begin to listen. Over 12,000 men, women and children ran in panic out of containers and tents and into adjoining olive groves and fields as the fire destroyed most of the overcrowded, squalid camp. Authorities placed the facility under quarantine last week after a Somali migrant was confirmed to have contracted coronavirus. Sanitary conditions are grim. More than 4 years ago Pope Francis visited Moria camp. We had gone through some team pre-hospital trauma care earlier in the week and have had daily exposure to stabbings by now, so we get to work putting in lines and assessing each patient. Our clinic runs on the grid, regularly tripping out, and we carry out our consultations by the glow of head torches and battery-operated lights. The Moria camp was initially designed to house 3000 migrants. During my time there, one of our most calm, loyal, and impressive translators was arrested after a second rejection and deported without papers, and without a lawyer. There's little running water, and washing is difficult. In the acute phase we provide emergency care for these patients and their friends, relatives and tent-mates, who listen to them cry at night, and drag them to the clinic in blankets when they have attacks. At the scene. People queue outside the wire-fenced cabin for hours before the clinic opens at four, hoping to be able to speak to a doctor about their child’s rash, their pregnancy-related abdominal pains, their hallucinations and flashbacks from witnessed violence, their sleep disturbance, their itch from having to wear nappies at night for fear of having to go to the toilet in the pitch-black camp. They come with the infamous “Moria flu” and a whole range of chronic problems one would normally expect in a population of this size. With finite space and an infinite number of increasingly vulnerable people arriving, many minors and women are living alone outside the sections, at risk of abuse, violence, and systemic failings. The Moria camp has a capacity of 3,000 but is now overcrowded with over 20,000 people living there. This kind of thing reaches through the camp, adding to the feeling of resignation and hopelessness. As far as I’m aware, all of these patients are still alive. 0:41. But officials have also increased security on the island. Migrants from the burnt-out Moria camp are staging a protest in front of the police barriers which prevent them from moving to other parts of the island. One of his lungs is filling up with air and blood where he has been stabbed. Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said the fires "began with the asylum seekers because of the quarantine imposed". Kyaw Zwar Minn spends the night in his car after saying the military attaché "occupied" the embassy. A mother comes in with her four-year-old child who has a very high fever, and who hasn’t been eating, drinking or responding to her properly for hours. As we wait for the ambulance to arrive, the other one starts to gargle and choke. Moria refugee camp is at breaking point; the situation is about to implode. Thousands of asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesvos fled for their lives as a huge fire ripped through the camp of Moria, the country’s largest migrant facility. “Covid-19 has reached almost every corner of this planet, so I can’t imagine why it shouldn’t hit Moria,” said Dr. van de Vijver. We put in an emergency needle to decompress the damaged lung. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. We take the boys out in emergency blankets, with fluids and lines in place, on stretchers, in front of the patients waiting to be seen in the cold, gravel-floored cage that is the waiting room. In this article, we provide a firsthand account of our experiences volunteering as doctors at this very same camp earlier in the year. They have started responding by the time they are in the ambulance, and we know they will be OK. There has been no electricity in the camp now for two and a half months. Fires broke out in more than three places overnight on Tuesday, according to local fire chief Konstantinos Theofilopoulos. Moria camp on Lesbos has been criticized many times, for instance, a year ago when MSF psychiatrist Alessandro Barberio sent an open letter in 2018 alarming the emergency situation of the camp. And we work at full capacity. When the gate is unlocked there is a rush of people, each shouting that they are an emergency, waving their ausweis. The Blue Star Chios ferry, which has capacity to house 1,000 people, has docked at the Lesbos port of Sigri. Myanmar ambassador to UK 'locked out' of embassy1, 'Strong' evidence found for a new force of nature2, Navalny 'losing sensation in legs and hands'3, Jabs 'breaking link' between UK cases and deaths4, Kardashian tries to get photo wiped off the web5, PM 'deeply concerned' about Belfast violence6, Beijing now has more billionaires than any city7, Are pay-by-the-minute booths the future of work?9, Hong Kong citizens given 'support' to come to UK10. Geneva Palais briefing note on situation for children affected by fire at Moria camp in Lesvos, and UNICEF response ... Thousands of asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesvos fled for their lives as a huge fire ripped through the camp of Moria, the country's largest migrant facility. This will happen inwardly, harming some of the most vulnerable people in the world. Has Greece become more hostile to migrants? We assessed and stabilised them all and got them to hospital. © 2021 BBC. Navalny 'losing sensation in legs and hands', Jabs 'breaking link' between UK cases and deaths. The world continues to turn its back. I am a doctor from London and I have just spent three weeks working for the Boat Refugee Foundation (BRF). Families have been sleeping in fields and on roads after fleeing the blaze on Wednesday, as authorities struggle to find accommodation for them. Myanmar ambassador to UK 'locked out' of embassy. An urgent effort to help thousands of homeless asylum-seekers on Lesvos. "The shameful situation in the camp and the fire disaster are the direct result of a failed European refugee policy - now the EU must finally help the people affected," the open letter reads. Last modified on Thu 20 Feb 2020 10.33 GMT. This will happen inwardly, harming some of the most vulnerable people in the world. They agree and also agree to take both boys at the same time – a rare occurrence, but last week a young man died from a stab wound and we work together in the dark shadow of this memory. With only two ambulances on the island despite a rapid 25% increase in the population, the service is not fit for purpose, and we are increasingly using taxis to transport patients to hospital. Child migrants sleep in pens at Lesbos port, Tear gas fired as migrants hold protest on Lesbos, Greek islanders strike over crowded migrant camps. Other countries expected to take in children include Switzerland, Belgium, Croatia, Slovenia, Luxembourg and Portugal, according to German reports. Almost 13,000 people had been living in squalor in the overcrowded Moria camp and are desperate to leave the island. It is… I have gone to volunteer, as many have before me and many continue to do while I return to my home, where I have central heating, regular food I can choose, and my freedom – and all of these afforded to me only by my luck at birth. And when we send them back to their tents, I feel ashamed. The Moria refugee camp is the largest refugee camp in Greece located on the island of Lesbos. "We've faced this situation for five years, it's time for others to bear this burden.". I call the child back to my clinic space for a full assessment. Eight of the 35 who tested positive for Covid-19 are since believed to have been found and isolated. I am the narrator of the stories of the people still there; this is not about me. How do you weigh up the risks of the AZ vaccine? (Photo by Manolis ... the situation is even worse. Axel Steier, co-founder of Mission Lifeline, said he had warned that the situation would "escalate" over the camp's poor conditions. And the next day, and the next. On the last night I was working we saw four life-threatening stabbings, including a stabbed neck and an open chest. By midway through my second week in the camp, we have had three confirmed cases of meningococcal meningitis and are considering a camp-wide vaccination programme. After a week in which riot squads clashed with crowds of migrants, one medic gives a harrowing account of life volunteering in Greece’s infamous holding facility, Children in the olive grove area. People from 70 countries had been sheltered there, most from Afghanistan. As the military begins constructing new tents on Lesbos, Greece has also sent three ships to provide accommodation for some 2,000 migrants. Moria was originally designed to hold up to 2,800 people. On Friday, migrants and refugees approached police barriers blocking the road out of Moria camp, holding signs calling for "freedom" and opposing the construction of a new camp. The next day we had a 16-year-old boy, again from the supposedly protected sections, fall through the back doors of the clinic with a knife still in his back. The Moria camp is a 10-minute drive from the port of Mitilini, the largest city on Lesbos. The charity sent staff to Lesbos, together with the Greek Council of Refugees, to assess the situation at the provisional site after a fire gutted the island’s Moria camp in September. ', Med's deadly migrant crisis: In maps and charts, Protecting yourself from coronavirus in a migrant camp. Those people in the camps really want freedom and they … “The situation in Moria cannot continue because it is a matter of public health, humanity and national security at the same time,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement. Simply horrible. The boredom in the camp is maddening and the asylum process is opaque. On Friday, migrants and refugees approached police barriers blocking the road out of Moria camp, holding signs calling for "freedom" and opposing the construction of a new camp. Without BRF, I know many would have died every day in the three short weeks I was there: adults – both men and women – from violent stabbings that are stabilised by medics trained briefly in “stop the bleed”; children from a new outbreak of meningitis whose fevers spike at night in their tents; vulnerable women in labour; four-day-old babies sleeping in freezing tents. This is daily. Initially built for 2,200 people, the camp has hosted almost ten times the amount of people it …