‘Dire situation’: Hong Kong authorities urged to show compassion to seriously ill asylum seekers who need life-saving treatment
- Case workers highlight plight of two foreigners who cannot afford treatment for serious health conditions
- ‘Sometimes I wake up and I am blind in my left eye. My sight comes back eventually, but it is terrifying,’ says Egyptian woman diagnosed with hemiplegia
A Hong Kong social worker and NGO manager helping foreign asylum seekers have urged the government to allow those who are seriously ill to receive expensive treatment that can save their lives.
They highlighted the cases of two foreigners with life-threatening conditions but who could not afford the treatment they needed.
These foreigners are ineligible for free or discounted urgent care at public hospitals. They pay more than Hongkongers, and treatment at private hospitals costs too much.
“We understand that, for the government, taxpayers come first, but we are calling for a humanitarian approach,” social worker Jeffrey Andrews, whose Sri Lankan client has a serious heart condition, said.
Rebekka Fiedler, casework and research manager at Hong Kong Dignity Institute, an NGO serving refugees, said she was helping a young Egyptian woman who needed an MRI scan to assess damage to her brain and to avoid collapsing and slipping into a coma.
As the woman was poor, jobless and could not afford the cost of treatment, Fiedler appealed to the authorities to “use their discretion and waive the medical fees”.
