Israel’s doctor on front line in Lesbos, after fire destroys refugee camp
The camp housed more than 13,000 people.
By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
The World Health Organization summoned a top Israeli doctor to participate in a humanitarian response, following a fire which destroyed the large camp on the island of Lesbos which housed 13,000 refugees and migrants from Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa.“At the moment, we are in the last stages of inhabiting the new camp with over 9,000 refugees already inside,” said Prof. Elhanan Bar-On, director of the Israel Center for Disaster Medicine at Sheba Medical Center, from Lesbos, Greece. He traveled there just before Rosh Hashanah.Bar-On traveled to Greece in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, after a fire last week swept through a refugee camp on Lesbos – the third largest Greek island.The fire destroyed all housing and medical facilities, leaving many people on the streets – a situation exacerbated by a growing number of patients testing positive for COVID-19.The Greek government is working with UN agencies and has constructed a new large tent camp. WHO mobilized medical teams from around the world, including calling on Bar-On.“Several teams have arrived and established clinics that are providing basic healthcare to the camp’s inhabitants and several more teams are on the way,” Bar-On said. ”They will continue to work with local and international partners to provide care in the camp for several months until the emergency situation is resolved.”