Doctors Without Borders condemn denial of immigrant healthcare as activists intensify deportation push
Image: DOCTOR NGCOBO/Independent Newspapers
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has raised alarm over what it calls a 'distressing and unacceptable' crisis in South Africa's public healthcare system, where anti-illegal immigrant groups are blocking foreign nationals, many of them pregnant women or patients with chronic illnesses from receiving treatment.
MSF says its teams have witnessed patients being turned away from more than half of the 15 healthcare facilities they visited in Gauteng.
Groups of between two and 10 individuals, dressed in civilian clothing, have been stationed at clinic gates or inside facilities, demanding identification and refusing entry to those they deem non-South African.
In some cases, security staff and healthcare workers were allegedly working in collusion with these anti-migrant groups. "This conduct is highly unacceptable," said MSF spokesperson Jane Rabothata, stressing that South Africa's Constitution guarantees everyone the right to access healthcare services and prohibits the refusal of emergency treatment.
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The consequences of the campaign to block illegal immigrants from accessing health care have been dire according to MSF.
Many pregnant women with high-risk conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, and HIV, have gone without essential monitoring and treatment, said the organisation. Some HIV patients have reportedly been without their medication for over two weeks, placing their health and public health more broadly at serious risk.
One pregnant patient, 16 weeks into her term, told MSF she wished she could terminate her pregnancy because she could not access care, yet feared the consequences of doing so.
"Defaulting HIV treatment can have serious complications for individuals and create a broader public health concern," Rabothata warned.
However, not everyone agrees with MSF's position. Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, leader of the March and March Movement, told IOL: "In light of what our Constitution says, illegal immigrants are not even supposed to be in the country. They're supposed to be taken and deported.
"In the instance that they need emergency health care, they are welcome to access it but from there, they are meant to be deported. They are not supposed to be on a list for chronic medication, surgeries, getting medical treatment month after month and having multiple babies in the country. That is not what the Constitution says."
Ngobese-Zuma claimed some illegal immigrants are stealing medication and taking it to their countries and starting businesses. "This is compromising the lives of South Africans who have no other country to go to and end up having to sleep on the floor without beds in hospitals, wait in queues or take their own money to buy medication from pharmacies."
"We're not running a country on emotions, we are running for the wellbeing of the people," she said. South Africans can no longer survive having to share their medical resources with the whole of Africa."
MSF emphasised that denying basic or emergency healthcare to migrants risks the spread of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, and Covid-19 conditions that do not respect borders or legal status. Untreated illnesses, they warn, could spark outbreaks, increase treatment costs, and further burden the system.
The government at the time condemned the protests and reaffirmed that the right to healthcare applies to all, regardless of nationality or documentation.
MSF noted that South Africa's commitments to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights reinforce that healthcare is a universal right.
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