PRESS RELEASE
At the end of May 2018, Doctors of the World intervention for refugees and migrants hosted in refugee camps in Mainland Greece will be completed. After two years of daily presence and thousands of medical consultations provided to refugees and migrants, Doctors of the World will hand over the health care services to the Greek National Health System, as foreseen in the financial plan of the Greek authorities. Doctors of the World will ensure smooth transition by supporting the Greek health authorities.
Through its program, funded by the European Commission’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO), Doctors of the World has supported thousands of refugees and migrants. Since April 2016, specialized medical teams have been operating in 22 camps in Mainland Greece, providing a total of 75.000 consultations to more than 15.500 beneficiaries.
Specifically, 62.000 Primary Health Care consultations (of which 317 performed by the Ophthalmological Unit), 7.000 Sexual and Reproductive Health Care consultations and 3.600 individual sessions with Psychologists were provided. In addition, MdM Dental Care Mobile Unit has performed more than 2.300 consultations, while the Referral System has connected more than 4.000 people with the local hospitals for specialized medical care, facilitating the transportation, interpretation and social services to access more than 8.500 specialized care consultations (data updated April 2018).
“Our primary concern through this program was to help the most vulnerable people who were obliged to live under difficult conditions,” said Eugenia Thanou, General Director of Doctors of the World Greece. “Our teams worked hard on a daily basis to ensure that all these people would have access to health care”.
The General Coordinator of the intervention, Tatiana Olivero, added “Doctors of the World is handing over the provision of health services in camps to the Greek National Health System, however our intervention, funded by European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department, will continue in the urban areas supporting the integration of refugees and migrants through the access to health care. The migration crisis is not finished and we are now witnessing again an increase in the flows of refugees and migrants reaching Greece: we should not forget that there are people in need and they have a fundamental right to receive medical care”.