Maverick Citizen: When a piece of paper stands between living and dying By Ufrieda Ho
Alem Ereselo is an Ethiopian asylum seeker who has been denied renal treatment by South African medical authorities backed by a supporting judgement made by the Johannesburg High Court. She requires dialysis in order to survive before a kidney replacement becomes available, 16 November 2019.
“The economy was bad, also the politics. The government soldiers wanted people to join the army,” says Dawit Assdome. He calls himself her brother and translates for Ereselo from their native Amharic into English. He’s lived in South Africa for 19 years. Human Rights Watch’s 2009 report outlines the life Ethiopian citizens were facing at the time Ereselo and her family were forced to make plans to flee.
She spreads the paper flat on the bed she’s sitting on. In a matter of days, she’ll be required to renew the document that Refugee Reception Offices only validate for six months at a time. She was told earlier this year at Helen Joseph Hospital that, as an asylum seeker, she would not be allowed to continue with dialysis treatment at the facility. She would also not be put on any transplant waiting list.
, but she has a fluffy pink fleece blanket pulled up under her chin. There’s a tremor, and when she speaks the words seemed squeezed out from an exhausted body. “I have seen it myself because I was with Alem in hospitals – some of the nurses they don’t want to help. They will call me and say you come and wash your sister or feed her but they are not like this to other patients.
LHR will challenge the constitutionality of sections of the National Health Act and policies that deny asylum seekers access to dialysis and transplants.
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