Un regard éclairé d’un ami et collègue médecin ayant auparavant étudié la géopolitique sur notre vécu ici à la clinique à Samos.
« Samos update: day 18
Sadness, hopelessness, frustration and wasted potential are the themes my mind was repeatedly drawn back to again today in clinic. Patient after patient expressed these things, from the father of a 13 year old kid who had been bitten by a rat in their tent to a woman who had just spent 2 days vomiting in hers. I’m getting used to repeating a few stock phrases « I know conditions are bad in the camp, and we will do what we can to support you medically but the clinic has very limited resources too, I wish we could do more to help you ». It feels like these are kind of empty words sometimes, but it’s quite important that people have realistic expectations of what we can do, or we just create more work for ourselves and more frustration for the refugees.
Sometimes, this frustration boils over into quite extreme presentations of psychological distress. PTSD, schizophrenia, depression and self harm are commonplace here, and there is next to nothing by way of psychological support and even psychiatric medication we can’t prescribe due to Greek laws (how I would feel about medicating people for psychological problems here is a question I don’t have the time to write about right now, but people who know me will understand I have quite strong and critical views on this subject).
There is no pill for hope. No tourniquet to stop aspirations from bleeding into the dust. We hold hands, rub shoulders, listen, keep things clean and try to offer privacy whenever possible (some people are triaged in corridors when we are really busy).
The volunteers are amazing and all doing their absolute best. It is heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time. I have a day off tomorrow, and one final day in clinic on Friday. I have mixed feelings about getting ready to leave.
You can support the work we are doing here:
https://medequali.team/make-a-donation/ »
Text by Henry Hobson, shared on facebook 08.01.2020 (https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10103484018361440&id=36903530)
Notes de voyage 