If the health and life of a refugee does not matter: the Italian paradox

Emilio Drudi

 Four deaths among guests at a service center for refugees in just over a year. For health reasons. It is suspected that they had no proper medical care. And 'again accused the Italian political shelter for the refugees, arrived in our city after crossing half Africa. And is once again don Mussie Zerai, the president of the agency Habeshia, to request that this painful issue does not remain unspoken, buried under a blanket of guilty "mute" and overwhelmed by indifference to the fate of these young people who have looked at Europe 'for a choice of freedom, fleeing war, persecution, hunger, discrimination.
The last case of death is that of an Eritrean girl of 28 years, four months pregnant. It was in the field for asylum seekers (Cara) of Catania. According Habeshia was able to ascertain, the girl felt bad for a long time, so that the doctors have advised to undergo a CAT scan, warning that this type of examination could be dangerous for the baby she was carrying. She resisted for a while ', then the suffering convinced her to give consent. To be able to ascertain had to turn from hospital to hospital for two days. Was finally taken back to the reception center. Shortly after she died.
"It seems he suffered an aneurysm aorta - says Fr Zerai - If this is so, why was reported at the center rather than being hospitalized? This is the fourth death of migrants housed in the structure of Catania for medical problems or other health. In November 2011, after angioplasty, died Mujahid Alid, a Pakistani of 36 years. Then there is the story of Abdoulaye Keita, a twenty-seven came from Mali. Seized by an illness after a fight with another guest of the field, was brought in a state of semi-consciousness to the hospital emergency room of Caltagirone, where he was discharged with just one day of prognosis. He returned to the field, fell ill and died. Finally, Anthony Yeboah, 22, a native of Ghana. He, too, was brought dall'ambulatorio within the hospital. From here, after some checks, he was sent back. For doctors it was just a drunk. But then, there was need for a new hospital because doctors had found the dear of neurological problems. A few hours later came the news of the death, due, you will learn at a later date, in cerebral ischemia. One wonders, then, how it is safeguarded the health of the guests of these structures. The evidence coming from different dear or shelters are not good: there is no prevention, no medical check-ups to prevent disease easily transmitted such as TB and generally tends to minimize. Even when you are asked for assistance or care denouncing certain symptoms. "
It 'a big problem that raised by Don Zerai. The state program of welcome for refugees not only promise food and shelter. The key points are also considered medical care and health protection, as well as initiatives to promote social integration, language study, cultural interchange. The inclusion, in short, in the Italian community. Only on paper, though. Because the experience of the last year and a half shows that often there is no trace of this. Indeed, thanks to the indifference and general lack of control, some people have found a way to speculate on the suffering of the people, by setting up makeshift shelters in order to pocket the line of 46 euro per day per refugee. One of the most striking cases was discovered in the province of Latina, in Roccagorga, where a cooperative has managed to be entrusted by the Region of dozens of young refugees, placing the least worst in a detached and isolated by providing them with barely a bed and two meals day. Nothing more. The result was an investigation of the judiciary, which has led to the indictment of some of the leaders of the cooperative, but without "disturbing" too, at least so far, regional politicians who chose that structure, it is not clear by what criteria and apparently without checking thoroughly the requirements.
No wonder, then, that in the end be jammed the entire emergency plan launched by the government when the refugees arriving have increased as a result of the uprisings in North Africa. It was not possible, in fact, to examine within the deadline of December 31 asylum applications, and 20,000 reported in 2012. They are still "pending" response several requests in the first instance but, more importantly, thousands of appeals from the adverse judgments and, ultimately, rejection. There was an uproar because all those people in danger of being deported or sentenced to a life of illegal immigrants and "non-persons" in some slums spread to Italy. And several support groups, among others, have reported that often requests for protection were "shot down" without examining in depth the situation envisaged by the refugees. For several reasons: inexperience, indifference, but hurry, there is a danger, even injury. Palazzo Chigi was forced, therefore, to grant an extension of two months, until 28 February. But there have been a backlash: the line has been reduced from 46 to 35 euro per day and the fear now is that many structures are more willing, for this figure, to ensure the housing and the assistance provided. "In this way - he denounced the Caritas Milan - you are likely to throw in the street, in the middle of winter, hundreds, perhaps miles of men, women, even children or children. To whom will only have to be obtained from the municipalities or the local Caritas, already burdened by an enormous help to the people that there has been in recent years, due to the crisis and the cuts to welfare. "
That is: still restrictions to the program host, just as, on the contrary, it would need a general check to enable it to work better, connecting it to the local structures, starting with hospitals and medical centers. This is confirmed also denunciation of Don Zerai, which continues to receive reports on the alarming level of health care in the dear and reception centers. "The last complaint - he says - came from Anguillara, where a woman is the eighth month of pregnancy has been able to do so far only two medical examinations. She said she applied unsuccessfully several times to consult a gynecologist regularly. Have you ever been told not to worry, with assurances generic 'Just the fetus moves', they told her. If so, it seems a clear denial of the right to health, both for women as for the baby. But there's constantly stories of situations like this: men and women in need of medical care but whose needs are neglected or ignored by local managers of centers or areas in which they live. It 'a matter that directly affects the Interior Ministry, which owns the Cara, and local authorities, which deal with various centers: they are primarily responsible for the protection of the health of the guests of those structures. "
The Interior Ministry and local authorities. The state, therefore. That is all of us. The country. Is it any wonder, then, that this country has ever become Italy, which recognizes in its Constitution the fundamental human rights but then, in daily practice and the political agenda, forgets or makes a sub chapter. Except to wonder or perhaps indignant when abroad speak of "Italian paradox"