MP Raises Staffing Crisis at Kos and Leros Reception Centres

Dodecanese MP Giorgos Nikitiadis brought the severe pressure on the closed controlled reception centres on Kos and Leros, acute healthcare understaffing and the effect on island policing before the Greek parliament.

Mr Nikitiadis, a former deputy culture and tourism minister and Pasok's development policy spokesman, submitted a parliamentary question on Tuesday 18 August 2026 to citizen protection minister Michalis Chrysochoidis, health minister Adonis Georgiadis and migration and asylum minister Athanasios Plevris.

The Dodecanese Border Guards' Union described the situation on Kos and Leros as particularly critical in a document that Mr Nikitiadis presented to parliament.

He cited union document 04/2026, dated 27 July, which reported a sharp increase in migration flows across the wider Dodecanese.

At the same time, the closed controlled reception centres on Kos and Leros were receiving continuous transfers of asylum seekers from Crete. Local forces therefore faced increased obligations for safe transport, security and accommodation.

The additional burden came during the tourist season, when demand on both islands was already particularly high.

Public health services on Kos and Leros were expected to meet the permanent needs of residents, the increased demand generated by tourism and the healthcare needs of people staying in the reception centres.

According to the border guards' union, healthcare staff were under intense pressure, while police officers and border guards informally assumed the work of rescuers and nursing staff when transporting patients and guarding them in hospital.

Using police and border guards for patient transport and hospital guarding removed personnel from operational duties. It reduced their ability to prevent crime, police the islands, protect residents and maintain a sense of security within local communities.

The status of medical clinics built inside the Kos and Leros centres was described as particularly serious. Significant funding from migration and asylum funds had been spent upgrading the buildings and providing equipment.

The clinics remained inactive because they had no staff. Healthcare needs were therefore transferred to already overstretched public services, while additional police officers had to be assigned.

Mr Nikitiadis asked why the equipped clinics remained inactive and unstaffed. He requested a specific plan and timetable for their immediate and permanent staffing with the necessary doctors and nurses.

He also asked what action would release police and border guards from duties outside their proper role, such as guarding hospital patients, so they could return to operational policing.

Finally, he asked whether the government would reconsider continuous transfers of asylum seekers from Crete to Kos and Leros while local infrastructure was already operating at its limits.

Full parliamentary question

The Pasok Movement for Change parliamentary question, dated 18 August 2026, was addressed to the ministers for citizen protection, health, and migration and asylum.

Its subject was the severe pressure on the closed controlled reception centres on Kos and Leros, acute understaffing of health services and weakened policing across the Dodecanese.

The question said the Dodecanese Border Guards' Union, a member of the Panhellenic Federation of Border Guards, had highlighted the particularly critical conditions facing Kos and Leros in document 04/2026 of 27 July.

The document reported a sharp recent increase in migration flows throughout the Dodecanese. Alongside new arrivals, the reception centres on Kos and Leros were taking continuous transfers of asylum seekers from Crete.

This forced local services to bear a disproportionate burden for safely transporting, guarding and accommodating those transferred.

At the same time, public healthcare on Kos and Leros was already operating at the limits of its capacity. It had to cover residents' permanent needs, the rapid increase in demand during the tourist season and care for people in the centres, some of whom required immediate and specialist treatment.

Border guard representatives said local health staff faced enormous pressure and police officers frequently had to go beyond their official duties, informally acting as rescuers and nurses during patient transport and hospital guarding.

The continuous use of police personnel for healthcare transfers deprived operational units of valuable staff and restricted their main work: preventing crime, providing effective policing and strengthening the sense of security in local communities.

The union described as especially paradoxical the fact that substantial migration and asylum funding had been spent on buildings and medical equipment for clinics inside the Kos and Leros centres, yet the clinics remained inactive because they had no staff.

That unjustified inactivity transferred the entire burden to local healthcare and security services, the question said.

It argued that the public health services and police stations on Kos and Leros could no longer absorb the additional pressure created by continuous transfers from Crete during the tourist season.

Leaving fully equipped clinics unused while the National Health System was under severe strain and police officers performed nursing duties represented an obviously flawed use of public resources, it said.

Protecting the health of residents and people staying in the centres, and maintaining a sense of public safety, were non-negotiable state responsibilities.

Questions put to ministers

• Why do the medical clinics inside the Kos and Leros reception centres remain inactive and unstaffed despite substantial funding for their construction and equipment, adding pressure to the already exhausted National Health System and local police stations?
• What specific plan and timetable exist for immediate and permanent staffing of the clinics with the doctors and nurses needed to minimise hospital transfers?
• What action will release police and border guards from unrelated duties, including guarding patients in hospitals, so they can return to policing and protecting Dodecanese residents?
• Will the government reconsider continuous transfers of asylum seekers from Crete to Kos and Leros while local infrastructure is already at its limits?

The parliamentary question was signed by Giorgos Nikitiadis.

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