Doctors Without Borders (MSF) health adviser David Beversluis urged the government to repeal Circular 10/2001, which requires healthcare workers to report undocumented migrants to the police and immigration authorities.
“It prevents people from coming to the healthcare system when they need access and therefore, causes compounding health effects both in the Rohingya and larger migrant population,” he said in a virtual press conference on the continued dehumanisation of Rohingya people.
Tomorrow marks the fourth anniversary of the mass exodus of more than 730,000 Rohingya from Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Beversluis called for a “firewall” or separation between the public healthcare system and immigration services to ensure refugees could access medical help without risk of detention.
He added that this would also encourage more people to come forward and receive vaccinations against Covid-19.
Beversluis revealed that MSF’s healthcare clinics in Penang have also witnessed worsening health conditions among its refugee patients, caused by the lack of routine access to healthcare as well as the prolonged movement control orders.
This included chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension and cancer, besides mental health problems.
He said there has also been an increasing level of gender-based violence, intimate partner violence and domestic abuse.
“All these things have worsened in the last year during the many months of lockdown. We see both the direct and indirect impacts of Covid-19 on the Rohingya population as access has become more and more constrained.”
Last year, it was reported that healthcare workers in Sabah faced difficulties getting undocumented migrants tested for the virus, despite a rise in infections among residents of foreign worker hostels.
Checks by FMT at major hospitals in Kedah, Sabah and the Klang Valley showed mixed responses over the order to report undocumented migrants, with some saying the decision to report was either disobeyed, strictly followed or based on the discretion of the hospital and its staff.
The Malaysian Medical Association has also called for the health ministry to drop Circular 10/2001, saying healthcare is a fundamental human right.