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OPT: Physicians for Human Rights - Israel Update 16 Mar 2008

On the 23rd of March: PHR-Israel Closes the Open Clinic; Demands Responsibility of Israeli Health Ministry

In recent months, the number of refugees and asylum seekers requiring medical attention at PHR-Israel's volunteer-run Open Clinic in south Tel Aviv has increased sharply.

Over 70 percent of the patients seeking attention at the Clinic today are refugees and asylum seekers, and the Clinic, operated by volunteers, is on the verge of collapse due to heavy caseload.

Despite the sharp increase in the number of asylum seekers in the State of Israel, and despite repeated requests, the Ministry of Health has avoided taking measures that would ensure the right to health of refugees and asylum seekers, and is blatantly ignoring the basic medical needs of this population. Moreover, the Ministry of Health has avoided taking necessary measures relating to public health, and, as a result, recent outbreaks of chicken pox and measles have been recorded among a large part of the refugees, including pregnant women. The unbearable living conditions of the refugees have intensified the severity of the situation.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel has today published a report detailing the work of the Open Clinic and the medical care it has provided to refugees and asylum seekers over the past year (see link).

http://www.phr.org.il/phr/files/articlefile_1205681227812.doc

Due to the consistent avoidance of responsibility by the Ministry of Health, and since PHR-Israel is unwilling to serve as a figleaf for the shortcomings of government policy, we have decided to take an extraordinary measure, which we believe to be necessary and unavoidable, and to close the Open Clinic as an act of protest, demanding responsibility of the State of Israel.

In the course of this action, planned to commence on 23.3.08, volunteers will staff the Clinic, in order to guide patients to hospital Emergency Rooms and to the Ministry of Health clinics.

A letter was sent this morning to the Minister of Health, warning of the planned closure of the Clinic and demanding that he act to ensure the health of refugees and asylum seekers.

'A low-budget volunteer-run clinic cannot, will not and should not constitute a replacement for appropriate State policy', explained PHR-Israel in its letter to the Minister of Health, in which it notified the Ministry of the closure. 'We do not have the ability to provide adequate diagnosis and care, and cannot provide care that is only available in hospitals. Beyond the issue of public responsibility on the part of the State, continuing to operate the Open Clinic in the current circumstances, in which hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers approach us daily, would be irresponsible on our part.'

We are in need of volunteers in the course of the following week, in order to assist the staff in referring patients to hospitals and other clinics.

For further details please contact Noa Kaufman, noa@phr.org.il <mailto:noa@phr.org.il> , +972546995299.