Several participants reported dismissiveness by healthcare professionals, and an inability to procure adequate treatment from them. Several of our clients, including participants in this report, referred to PRDC medical staff as “Depon doctors”, complaining that they simply prescribe every person Depon-brand paracetamol, no matter their condition, and dismiss their other concerns. As Zain stated: “We call the doctor here a ‘Depon doctor’, he keeps giving us the same medicine no matter what happens to you, if you’re pregnant or you’re dying. It’s something that makes you remove the headache. It doesn’t matter if it’s your eyes, your mouth, it’s the same medication”. Boubacar described his experience of accessing medical services in the PRDC in similar terms: “…the doctor��writes some things. And then they give you paracetamol…. I have pain in my lungs, I went to the doctor, who asked if I smoked. I said no I’ve never smoked in my life. He said no problem, and then gave me paracetamol”. Meanwhile, Faiza described her experiences of being dismissed by medical professionals: “I have asthma and high blood pressure. I’ve seen the doctor in the detention centre but he accuses me of lying. I have medical documents from Syria though that document my condition—why would the doctors in Syria lie?”. On another occasion, she told us: “…so my experience whenever I go to the doctor and tell him about how I feel, he doesn’t believe people till you suffer a lot and till you’re almost dead then he’ll believe you’re sick and send you to hospital or give you medication, but otherwise he wasn’t really helpful”. Even when they have access to healthcare, detained persons thus experience challenges with obtaining appropriate and adequate treatment. d. Lack of interpreters As of November 2021, there was only one interpreter in the PRDC, a Sorani interpreter who speaks a limited amount of Arabic. Based on our first-hand experience, however, most people detained in the PRDC during the period covered in this report were either French or Arabic speakers. Several participants also reported that they were unable to communicate with medical services as they frequently lacked interpreters. This occurred both within medical services in the PRDC, and in the hospital in Kos Town. Boubacar told us that when he visited the doctor in the centre, “the communication was…bad with the doctor – they speak English, I speak French. There was no interpreter”. Zain told us that when he visited the hospital in town: “Because I don’t speak good English and there was no interpreter, I don’t really know what they said…I wasn’t really able to describe what I’m suffering from, didn’t have enough English to tell them”. Meanwhile Amir expressed reluctance to engage with the psychologist in the PRDC at all, as he was aware there were no appropriate interpreting services available, and that detained persons were often asked to translate for each other during sessions with the psychologist, stating: “…it doesn’t really help me anyway, there is no common language that we speak. Some of the refugees would be translating”. Clients have also told us that, after our repeated intervention, they were able to book appointments with the PRDC psychologist, but in some cases the appointments were postponed because there was no interpreter available. Clients of Equal Rights have also stated that, in some instances, the medical staff will use other detained persons to help with interpretation. One client stated that he had interpreted from Arabic-English for the psychologist. The doctor similarly confirmed to Equal Rights that at times he had relied on other detained asylum seekers to assist with interpretation during appointments. Detained persons may therefore find it difficult to access healthcare services without appropriate interpreters available. Further, relying on detainees for interpretation raises serious concerns about asylum seekers’ privacy, confidentiality, and even safety. e. Unaffordable and inaccessible private healthcare services Many participants also reported being referred to private healthcare services or being asked to pay for medication, which they were often unable to afford. Ismail reported being offered private services that he could not afford, stating: “…I had a problem with my teeth – they took me to the doctor and said we can’t help you here but we can take you to private doctor with police car which I refused to do. I was waiting for some money and I didn’t 55 DETENTION OF MIGRANTS ON THE ISLAND OF KOS