“What else has to happen? What do we have to do? What does the mayor of Ripoll want? Do we have to die to have a registry and be seen by a doctor? Why so much injustice?” is the heartbreaking lament of Karim Bouraadaa 19-year-old young man born in Melilla, who works and lives in Ripoll for ten months with his father, Mustapha. The man has been suffering from shoulder pain and unbearable low back pain for months, which he combats by self-medicating. He is on the waiting list to obtain the registry and is not allowed to access public healthcare.
Adults and minors with various pathologies encounter the CAP’s refusal to care for them while they are not registered
You cannot register or go to the doctor either. Liscandrys Olivares, a Venezuelan teenager who fights toothache with prayers, infusions and self-prescribed anti-inflammatories. “We are desperate: at the CAP they tell us that until we have the registry they will not assist us…. one day we will have a scare, I suffer for the health of my children,” says her mother, Nazareth Rebolledowith glassy eyes.
The lack of health care for the new arrivals in Ripoll, a consequence of the obstacles that the ultra mayor Sílvia Orriols places for them to register, puts the health of the most vulnerable at risk.
It was three weeks ago. At four in the morning, the screams of pain from Liscandrys Olivares, 15, woke up the entire family. This Venezuelan family lives in an attic borrowed from a neighbor, without a shower, without hot water and without a certificate of occupancy. Her father is registered in Barcelona. Her mother managed to register her in Ripoll because she did it before Orriols took control of the town hall. But the children, who arrived in December, have been left without access to registration, according to the new rules imposed by the far-right mayor.
Liscandrys, 15, fights toothache with prayers, hugs, tea and, if he has it, paracetamol
The girl has a toothache. “It happens often, she screams, she says she can’t take it anymore,” explains the mother. But when the family goes to the CAP to be treated, they are told that they can go back the way they came. Minors are not registered, so they are not allowed to apply for a health card or go to the doctor for free. “Since then, what we do is pray together, hug each other, we give him tea, we look for remedies on the internet and if we have it, we give him paracetamol,” says Nazareth.
The woman does not follow any guidelines, nor does she know exactly what the girl has. Only, they often give him stabs of pain. History repeats itself with her other son, Arnaldo, 12 years old. “It’s been days with fever, dizziness, “He has lost his sense of taste… what do we do?” Nazareth asks. Every time they go to the CAP they encounter the same barrier. “They tell us that until we have the registry we cannot come. It’s very frustrating because the health of your children comes first, and seeing that you can’t give them anything…”, laments this mother, on the verge of crying.
“Arnaldo, 12 years old, has been feverish and dizzy for days but at the CAP they tell us that we cannot go”
Neighbor of Ripoll
“From 0 to 10, it hurts 10”
Your case is not the only one. Mustapha Bouraada and his son Karim They arrived in Ripoll 10 months ago from Melilla because they were hired in a factory in the town. They work eight-hour shifts daily. The father asked to register on November 8, providing the rental contract. But they are still waiting for the mayor’s resolution.
“I fell to the floor in pain and I don’t sleep more than two hours at a time,” explains Mustapha, who has been suffering from lumbago for months.
“We realized that without the registry no doctor would see him,” explains the son. The father has been experiencing pain in his left shoulder and lower back for months. “From 0 to 10 it hurts 10: one day I have fallen to the ground from the pain, I can’t stand it. I can’t sleep more than two hours straight because of the pain,” says the man. “He takes paracetamols like candy,” adds the son, worried.
Despite the pain, Mustapha has not stopped working. He does not have a family doctor to process the discharge. “I can’t take it anymore,” he admits. Most of the times that he has gone to the consultation he has encountered a ‘no’. However, he received medical attention twice. One, on October 18, in the Emergency Room of the Campdevànol regional hospital. “They made us pay 150 euros and I started shouting: there is no right, we don’t have this money,” explains Karim. They were attended to, but first they had to endure racist insults in the waiting room. “They gave him paracetamol and that’s it,” laments the son.
The second was on January 15 at the CAP in Ripoll. “A very kind girl let us in. But the same thing, more pills. Not even an x-ray,” they complain.
Nor can he get rid of the toothache Imane Amzitti. She has been in Ripoll for two months and ten days and since then she has been waiting for the resolution of the registry. She requested it from her husband, The Aarbi Barkahia construction worker who, after ten years in Catalonia, two of which in Ripoll, managed to reunite his wife and his 10-year-old son in an apartment rented in his name. “They tell us to pay 40 euros if we want to go to the doctor,” Barkahi complains. “The child does not have vaccines, he does not have a doctor… I am suffering a lot,” continues the father.
Identical situation in which they are in the family of Mohamed Katbach, employee at Casa Tarradellas. After 20 years in Manlleu, working in slaughterhouses and meat companies of all types, Katbach has reunited with his wife and children aged 13 and 6. On November 29, they asked for the registry, also with a rental contract that proves his address. There is still no answer.
“They told me that the procedure could exceed six months Standby”says Katbach. If so, Orriols would be breaking the law since the maximum period is three months. The children are already going to school and college. But they cannot access public healthcare. “And if something happens to them, what do we do?” the man asks.
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Grays Dayana Prada He chose to self-medicate his son with paracetamol Jacob, six years old, what’s wrong with it bronchitis for a few weeks. This Colombian family, arriving in Ripoll at the end of August, has not yet managed to register. “The child had a high fever, cough… and I decided to give him this medicine that a friend lent me. Luckily nothing happened and the child got well,” says the mother between sobs. She has tried in vain to get them treated by a doctor at the CAP.
“As I do not have a health card or vaccines, Ripoll cannot sign me up to play football”
Health exclusion also affects his eldest son, Johan Sebastian, 13 years old. “He loves to play soccer, and he went to ask if he could play here,” continues the mother. “In Bogotá he played defense. The Ripoll coach saw me playing on the street and told me that he could join the team,” says the teenager. He was excited, but his dream came to nothing: “I don’t have a health card or the vaccines in order, and they told me that without this they can’t sign me up,” laments the boy, crestfallen, who spends his days playing alone in the street.