Doctors Without Borders (AzG) stopped providing medical aid in Ter Apel this afternoon. It was the first time in its fiftieth anniversary that the organization provided medical assistance in the Netherlands.
Since August 25, MSF has provided 449 medical and 203 psychological consultations to asylum seekers outside the gate of the application center and people in the on-site sports hall. The most common complaints among the people at the application center were skin infections due to a lack of hygiene and neglected wounds.
The organization also saw many chronically ill people who were deprived of medication for a long time. Many people had mental problems such as depression, psychosis, anxiety and panic attacks.
The situation in Ter Apel became untenable this summer. Hundreds of asylum seekers had to sleep outside on the grass for nights. The hygienic conditions turned out to be poor and safety was at stake.
According to Judith Sargentini, director of MSF Netherlands, everyone pointed to each other for medical help for these people, but nobody did anything. “Even when asylum seekers cannot be accommodated in existing reception locations, they have the right to medical care. Outside the gate does not mean outside the law.”
“When we arrived, we noticed that people had been without health care for a long time. We even had to provide life-saving aid several times. Fortunately, that emergency is over,” says Karel Hendriks, emergency aid coordinator at MSF.
As of yesterday, asylum seekers have been transferred from the application center in Ter Apel to a temporary ‘waiting room’ at Zoutkamp. This new approach should prevent people from sleeping outside the gates of the application center again.
The capacity for providing medical care has also increased, now that, in addition to the Asylum Seekers Health Care (GZA), another organization has been engaged to arrange this, the director says. “We are not here to replace the government. Now is the time to get out of it.”
The emergency medical organization still keeps a finger on the pulse, Sargentini says. According to MSF, the agreements that the government has made with the Security Council and municipalities to guarantee medical care to asylum seekers must now be complied with.
The Dutch government is urged by the organization not to let the situation escalate again. “I hope we don’t have to do this again, this is a well organized country, with a good medical standard,” Sargentini said.