May 2019 | Reception crisis in Northern Greece: three years of emergency solutions xxi The two government actors in these sites are the Reception and Identification Service (RIS) and EODY. EODY (then KEELPNO) started officially providing services in the ‘hotspots’ on the xxii Aegean islands in March 2017 . Consequently, NGOs began withdrawing. In the mainland, EODY became active in summer 2017 but provided very limited services. In the beginning of 2019, the agency was present in all mainland sites with the program “PHILOS I” and its multiple eextensions planned to last until June 2019. PHILOS II is scheduled to start this year whilst the lack of doctors remains a big challenge. Under the new programme, it is envisaged that EODY will provide broader services and deploy higher numbers of staff. xxiii In addition to the two state agencies, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) , xxiv xxv the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and the German NGO Arbeiter Samariter Bund (ASB) continue to have a central role in the Site Management Services (SMS) of refugee camps around mainland Greece. In the beginning of 2019, these actors had taken over social and legal services consisted by protection teams with different constellations and numbers of xxvi professionals (mainly lawyers and social workers) in each of the camps researched. Refugees interviewed spoke about a series of gaps in the provision of primary health care services by EODY including lack of specialised doctors (for women and children) and psychologists, not enough interpreters and army doctors being deployed where there were no EODY doctors. They also spoke about being left without interpreting when referred to hospitals. As a result, they could not communicate with health care professionals. Most of them spoke about the fear they experienced if they required emergency care because of the camp’s remoteness. 2.2. ABSENCE OF A FORMAL PROCEDURE FOR REFERRALS OF LAND BORDER ARRIVALS TO CAMPS “When we arrived Greece we first went to Thessaloniki. Some people told us to go to Diavata camp and register there. The second day we were sent to the police station and registered there. We received a white paperxxvii valid for 180 days. Back in Diavata they told us to go to Vaghiochori camp by ourselves. We slept two nights in a stone building in Diavata on the ground …”. Baha R.* (40)xxviii from Iran, Filippiada camp Whereas there is a referral procedure in place for people who are transferred from the Aegean Islands to camps in mainland Greece, there is no formal procedure for individuals arriving from the land border. Some interviewees, who found themselves homeless in Northern Greece either headed directly to a police stations in Thessaloniki to register, or to one of the camps that they were told would accept unregistered newcomers (i.e. Diavata, Vaghiochori or Lagadikia). UNHCR estimates that around 6.600 persons got arrested in Thessaloniki first time in the period August 2018 to March 2019. The xxix number is similar to the ones arrested in Evros and released by the authorities there. Other interviewees reported that they went directly to other camps such as Koutsochero, Nea Kavala, Filippiada or Katsikas and then stayed for a period of time in front of the sites or informally inside. They were then registered with the help of the responsible SMS (Site Management Service) first with https://rsaegean.org/en/reception-crisis-in-northern-greece-three-years-of-emergency-solutions 7