Xenophobia ruins Afghan little refugee girl’s life

This November 2017 British TV video says about itself:

Rohingya crisis: The children suffering in refugee camps

They’ve fled unimaginable horrors: now they’re outcast, desperate and alone. Thousands of Rohingya children arrive in the squalid refugee camps across the border in Bangladesh every week: and more than 20,000 of them are unaccompanied or orphaned. Our Asia correspondent Jonathan Miller has spoken to some of the most vulnerable children: they’ve lost their homes, their families, they’ve witnessed terrible things – so how are they managing to cope on their own in such squalid and dangerous conditions?

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

Children who have fled to the Netherlands but do not have a residence permit do not receive the health care they need. That is the opinion of Children’s Ombudswoman Margrite Kalverboer. She bases her research on the medical situation of a deaf girl from Afghanistan, who came to the Netherlands in 2013 at the age of 1.

The girl, who is called Ewa in the study, is eligible for special hearing implants with which she can learn to hear and speak. These implants must therefore be placed at the earliest possible age. But Ewa and her family did not yet have a residence permit and therefore the implants are not reimbursed. The girl did not get the implants.

Cost

According to the Children’s Ombudswoman, the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) did not want to place the hearing implants because it was unclear who would pay for the costs. The Ministry of Justice and Security

Refugees in the Netherlands, and in other countries, are subject to the same ministry ‘of Justice and Security’ as serial murderers and serial rapists.

is said to not have wanted to pay for the implants for fear that other children without a residence permit would appeal to the department. “Because treatment would mean that Ewa would have to stay in the Netherlands for longer, perhaps definitively”, said Kalverboer.

The hospital in Groningen argues that not money played a role in the decision not to operate Ewa, but the fact that the girl did not have a residence permit. As a result, it was uncertain whether Ewa would always have access to good and accessible care [necessary after the initial operation], the UMCG says in a statement. …

According to a spokesperson for the UMCG, the hospital also contacted, eg, the Ministry of Justice and Security, but this did not lead to a constructive solution. …

Meanwhile, Ewa, at last, received a residence permit last year, at the age of 6. At that age she could only get one hearing implant.

According to the Children’s Ombudswoman, chances are that Ewa will never learn to hear and talk properly. She calls on the Ministry and health organizations to draw up a guideline to prevent situations like this in the future.