Five thousand doctors call for the evacuation of Moria camp in Greece

22,000 refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and other countries are housed in a small camp called Moria on the Greek island of Lesbos. Five thousand doctors across Europe have called for the camp to be evacuated due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The warning from five thousand European doctors has been made public at a time when Europe is trying to contain the coronavirus on the continent.

Doctors say refugees in Greece are at risk from the coronavirus outbreak. According to doctors, maintaining the two-meter distance recommended to protect against the coronavirus is impossible in the Moria camp, as 22,000 refugees are housed in a small area.

The Moria camp was in the news even before the coronavirus outbreak. Moria was set up to accommodate 3,000 refugees, but currently, nearly 22,000 people live inside and outside its compound.

Inside the Moria camp, refugees live in tents without heating and are forced to use unsanitary toilets and washrooms. Outside the camp, refugees are also wandering, deprived of even these “facilities.”

Doctors who have worked in the camp say that hundreds of people have only one toilet and every thousand people use one toilet tap, so there is no talk of frequent hand washing to protect against the coronavirus.

Two Dutch doctors who recently helped refugees in the camp

They launched a new initiative by launching a hashtag called #SOSMoria. This hashtag has been supported by five thousand European doctors.

These doctors have called for the immediate evacuation of the Moria camp due to the risk of the spread of the coronavirus.

Doctors Steven van der Wijver and Sanne van der Koeij are the originators of the hashtag. Wijver is a general practitioner in Amsterdam and recently treated sick refugees in Moria. The Dutch doctor has worked in difficult and challenging conditions and is familiar with the situation of refugees.

He, who has accompanied Doctors Without Borders in Congo, describes the Moria camp as catastrophic.

The Dutch doctor explains that many in this camp have weak immune systems even without coronavirus, and the coronavirus could kill thousands of refugees.

He says that no measures have been taken to protect refugees from the coronavirus.

No cases of coronavirus have been reported in the camp so far, but the virus has spread among Greek residents.

He says that if the camp residents feel threatened by the spread of the coronavirus, they will leave the place and seek refuge in other corners of the island, and then it will be impossible to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus.

Sanne van der Koeij, a gynecologist, explains that many in Moria have mental health problems. Children do not speak, women in the camp are unable to care for their children due to mental health problems, and young people are contemplating suicide.

The Dutch doctor continues to emphasize: "As a doctor, I have sworn to help people and I have a duty to save them. European Union countries also have a duty to remove eligible refugees from the camps and accept them as refugees. But these countries are not keeping their promise."

Steven von der Weggeuer, the originator of the doctors' protest hashtag, says that Moria is not much different from the refugee camps in Idlib, Syria, and Myanmar, but Moria is located on the territory of a European country.

Source: DW