Aid organization Doctors Without Borders urgently forwarded two asylum seekers from Ter Apel to a hospital this morning. “One had heart problems, the other neglected diabetes.”
Doctors Without Borders has been standing with a group of medics since this morning at registration center Ter Apel. There, people have been sleeping outside on the lawn for weeks because there is no more room inside. The group has since grown to 700 people. For them there are a handful of toilets and no showers, making the hygienic situation dramatic.
It is the first time since its existence that MSF has launched an action on Dutch territory. “The Dutch government is failing. This is not an asylum crisis, but an administrative crisis,” said director Judith Sargentini.
The organization’s medics saw many people with chronic ailments this morning who had not been on medication for weeks. ,,We even had to send two people directly to the hospital. One had heart problems, the other neglected diabetes. He hadn’t had insulin for a month,” says doctor Noor Rijnberg.
MSF will also stay with Ter Apel for the rest of the day. “We are taking into account an action of four to six weeks. But we prefer to leave as soon as possible,” says Sargentini.
The toilets in the asylum seekers’ center in Ter Apel are extremely dirty, resulting in unhygienic situations:
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