INCREASED ARRIVALS OF EXTREMELY VULNERABLE FAMILIES FROM SYRIA AND IRAQ In recent months, there has been an increase and a change in the demographics of people arriving on Lesvos and Samos. © MSF Number of people arriving Arrivals of asylum seekers on Lesvos, March 2016 - September 2017 April May June Arrivals 2016 July August As the scale and severity of people’s mental health condition worsen, there is little capacity to respond to these needs, itself contributing to a deterioration of people’s health. Whilst the Ministry of Health has been scaling up its coordination role and capacity on both islands, this remains insufficient to meet the extremely high health and in particular mental health needs of the extremely vulnerable population. Patients on the islands can wait three to six months for appointments with the psychiatrist and in August 2017, the hospital on Lesvos stopped taking new appointments for the psychiatrist all together. On Samos, severe patients that constitute a risk to others or themselves are kept in the police station’s jail, again without appropriate access to healthcare, and without staff technically equipped to respond to their needs. September Arrivals 2017 “ Arrivals of asylum seekers on Samos, March 2016 - September 2017 “ March General view of Kara Tepe Camp. Number of people arriving I was tortured in a Syrian prison for months. I came here and went to the hospital, as I was feeling traumatised. They said I had to wait eight months to see a psychiatrist. When I heard that, I felt like dying. 41-year-old man from Syria, Lesvos, July 2017 A POLICY-MADE SUFFERING March April June May Arrivals 2016 July August The war and violence they fled from, and harsh conditions and violence during the journey stand out as traumatic experiences for most of our patients on the islands. Yet it is their current living conditions in Greece - the uncertainty about their futures, the threat of deportation, and the lack of access to appropriate healthcare that they emphasise during consultations as negatively affecting their mental wellbeing. September Arrivals 2017 25-year-old Syrian man, Lesvos, July 2017 |8 “ “ Whatever I will tell you, you will not understand. The death in Madaya... People were dying of hunger in front of me […]. I still remember the taste of the leaves and the smell of death. I was imprisoned [in Lesvos] for four months. I can’t forget at 04:45 in the morning when the two ghosts visited me. Since then I constantly see ghosts. […] I know I need to find hope, but when the night falls and I see where I am, I feel like I’m going crazy. © MSF In July 2017, 40% of people arriving on the Greek islands were children, and more than half came.11 Our psychologists both in Samos and Lesvos confirmed this trend and explained that the newly arrived families from Iraq and Syria report coming from newly freed areas, and were particularly traumatized and vulnerable. General view of Moria camp. 9|