member per 706 in Corinth, per 255 in Ritsona, per 207 in Serres, per 206 in Polykastro and per 171 in Malakasa. The Greek Ombudsman has also denounced the absence of doctors from CTRC Corinth following a mission where “the [EODY] Unit was found to be completely absent”.41 In fact, members of those units tend to cover more than one camps and therefore have to travel frequently. This is corroborated by the Greek Ombudsman following a mission to RIC Diavata. 42 Similar findings from CTRC Thiva may be drawn from cases of residents represented by RSA. More generally, understaffing and insufficient medical personnel are systematic, structural problems in all Greek camps, both on the mainland as shown in these figures and on the islands as we reported last year.43 These gaps expose people to serious risks and have significant impact on their physical and mental health. The European Commission has conceded that “PHILOS II has suffered chronic gaps in the provision of health services, mostly due to the absence of doctors”. 44 For their part, the Greek authorities note that “Hippokrates the successor of Philos will include also protection activities, psychosocial services and monitoring public health”. They also state that “there will be no gap in the provision of protection activities” in the administration’s transition from PHILOS to Hippocrates.45 Connection to public hospitals Serious staff shortages in the Health Care and Psychosocial Support Units of mainland camps, as documented above, have inevitable repercussions on the effectiveness of connection of residents to public hospitals for health needs exceeding the capacities of the CTRC. Case study: Zahra*, a refugee from Afghanistan, arrived in CTRC Thiva at a stage of advanced pregnancy. In early April, she was transferred to the General Hospital of Chalkida upon appointment for prenatal examination and was advised to return to the hospital on the next day for examinations in view of impending labour. Since no ambulance was offered by the hospital for her return to the CTRC, Zahra had to cover the transport costs on her own. She has still not received any financial allowance even though her asylum application was registered in mid-February 2024, as mentioned above. On the next day, Zahra was transferred to the General Hospital of Thiva. That hospital, however, has no gynaecologist and was therefore unable to examine her. She was instead referred to the General Hospital of Chalkida. Following telephone contact with CTRC Thiva, Zahra’s lawyers were informed that the Health Care and Psychosocial Support Unit of the camp has no doctor and is therefore not in a position to contact the two hospitals in order to facilitate the woman’s transfer from the Thiva Hospital to the Chalkida Hospital. Zahra’s lawyers directly contacted the services of both hospitals and ultimately an ambulance was made available for Zahra’s transport to the Chalkida Hospital. 41 42 43 44 45 Ombudsman, The Challenge of Migratory Flows and Refugee Protection, April 2024, 67. Ibid. RSA, ‘What is happening today in the refugee structures on the Aegean islands’, 3 May 2023, available here. European Commission, Letter to civil society organisations, Ares(2024)613054, 26 January 2024. Ibid. RSA REPORT │ REFUGEE CAMPS IN MAINLAND GREECE | JUN 2024 13