(summarizing one year of
experience in B&H)
Curriculum for the lecture
in Maribor on 18th of June, International Conference/ Pushing forward
Dimitar Anakiev, dr. med
Doctors for Asylees (Dfa),
Slovenia
General statements:
-Health care of migrants
and refugees in BiH borders on genocide
-Migrants
and refugees in BiH, concerning the respect of human rights, have a
worse status than war prisoners
Short
description of five pillars:
1-The
Health
Care Law
of FB&H
which explicitly legit¹
health care for refugees and migrants was
suspended. We do not know who suspended it and when. But we have seen
that until June 2018 the refugees and migrants were not any more
integrated into the local healthcare system. They
were
simply
pushed back from the
healthcare
of
FB&H.
So the first pushback was not at Croatian borders but in healthcare.
The pusback from healthcare is even more dangerous because soon it became standard, legit of racism in practice. At this point we are
back in practice of „two medicines“ known from the history of
colonialism („Corps
de santé des colonies“ & „Assistance médicale indigene“).
The
paravane for the puscback of refugees and migrants from healthcare in
FB&H was the MSF. They staged in the field without work
permission 5 months (From June to October). Probably we have here a
case of complicity between humanitarian organization and politics but
maybe they were just missused by the politics².
2-
As
a consequence the Primary
Health Care
was
and is
suspended too
(The case of Pakistanny
minor who died from bacterial pneumonia on 13rd
of December 2018 in camp
BIRA,
Bihać, after waiting more than two weeks to get help with high fever
and coughing)... No reporting about epidemics
no special treatment for people with disabilities, no special
treatment of vulnerable people, no special treatment of drug users,
no approach toward chronically ill patients etc. etc.
3-A
public health program
Medical Treatment of Migrants (all measures plus checking and
reporting forms) issued by Institute of Public Health FBiH in May
2018 was
and is
suspended too (never
came into action).
4-
Emergency
Medical Service (EMS)
does
not work
for migrants and refuges. (The case of Abdulhamid, old 34, from
Algeria, who died 3rd
of February from bleeding after waiting in very hard condition for
medical help nearly
two hours
in front of MIRAL camp, Kladuša – the EMS never came )
5-Humanitarian
Medical Help
is not suspended, it is offered but in a form that violate basic laws
of humanitarian medicine. That means it
is subordinated
to the politics which
produces crisis. It is not only difficult
to reach, too often absent, of low efficiency using
paracetamol in neraly any occasion as an universal medicine for all
illnesses
but
it fails in the very mission of humanitarian medicine: to support
patients and advocates their human rights.
Humanitarian
medicine is on the stage in B&H but it seems without a mandate to
really fulfill its mission.
Conclusion:
Lavish political forces is present in health care of migrants and
refugees in BiH. This policy
(Recently
I
read
an
adequate
name:
necro-politics³
)
makes health care ineffective bringing massive violation of human
rights and
consequently producing humanitarian crisis.
That
is why we think that state of emergency in humanitarian crisis needs
to be declared ASAP starting from an international coalition of NGOs
(including local NGOs).
Notes:
¹Diagnosis
of Health Policy in B&H:
http://zdravniki4azilante.blogspot.com/2018/08/diagnosis-of-health-policy-toward.html
²MSF
in Bosnia: How to keep good name without a good work:
http://zdravniki4azilante.blogspot.com/2018/12/msf-in-bosnia-how-to-keep-good-name.html
³Artan
Sadiku, Using Borders Against the Life („Granicama protiv
života“:https://kosovotwopointzero.com/sr/granicama-protiv-zivota/?fbclid=IwAR0mHZO_RpPkoYIEeqxQWpMxs9nUumbkeRs7mSlHU1gYkIRXVTHAqLtvrBE)
