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Last update - 03:30 30/04/2007 Darfur refugees in kibbutz can't work without health insurance By Ruth Sinai Six refugees from Darfur who are being hosted at Kibbutz Sde Boker cannot work at the Kibbutz before obtaining medical insurance, but the government is not supplying funds for the required medical check-ups. The six were released from prolonged incarceration after the kibbutz agreed to absorb them and provide them with work. But for more than a month, these six men in their twenties have been sitting around doing nothing because the kibbutz is forbidden to employ them without medical insurance, and there is no one to pay for the medical check-ups they need in order to qualify for insurance. Advertisement "This is total stupidity," said Zvi Ben-Dror of Sde Boker, who is in charge of taking care of the Sudanese refugees. "The government asked all kinds of communities to take in refugees as a humanitarian gesture, so that they would not be in detention, but it brought them here without insurance and without medical examinations." The tests required by the medical insurers - for jaundice, tuberculosis, AIDS, syphilis and gonorrhea - would cost Sde Boker some NIS 4,000. Ben-Dror now has to decide whether to pay this or send the refugees back to jail. "They come to me every day and ask what is going to happen. They see no future, and live in fear that I will do without them and send them back to prison. I won't let that happen, but I must find a solution. We don't have extra money. It is costing us to house, feed and clothe them, and it will also cost us to pay for their insurance." Ben-Dror would like to absorb another two detainees, because he has work for them. However, the situation makes this impossible. A few weeks ago, he asked the chief medical officer of the prison system whether the Sudanese had undergone the medical tests while in jail, but the answer was negative. Dozens of Sudanese refugees who have been released from incarceration and sent to moshavim and kibbutzim over the past few months are in a similar plight. Last week, Physicians for Human Rights wrote to Health Minister Yaakov Ben-Yizri demanding that the government stop ignoring the problem and do something to solve it. "This is not a matter of charity toward the refugees but rather their right to health, as anchored in the UN charter on defending the rights of refugees," wrote Ran Cohen, who is in charge of the organization's refugee project. The problem is not merely with getting new insurance policies. Some of the freed refugees have insurance that was paid for by the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Israel, Miki Bavli, or by the refugees themselves, in cooperation with their employers. Cohen explained that when the first refugees were released from prison, the insurance companies agreed to fund the necessary examinations, but stopped when the stream of refugees increased. However, this insurance does not cover illnesses that developed before the coverage began. Two refugees now working in the Hadera area, for instance, suffer from chronic blood pressure and heart problems. A doctor and nurse from Physicians for Human Rights examined them and bought them medicines from their own pockets. Another refugee employed in Kfar Vitkin suffers from chronic inflammation of the joints. His employer bought him medicines to the tune of NIS 500 out of his own pocket. "This grave situation forces the refugees to make the terrible choice of remaining out of jail and without medical insurance or giving up their freedom just so that they can obtain medical care," Cohen wrote to the health minister. "The insufferable medical condition of the few Sudanese refugees residing in Israel is a blot on the health system. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Say what you want French court: Claim that Al-Dura tape doctored isn`t libelous. Peace in our time Olmert: Peace talks with Syria are a 'national duty'.   1.   Life and Dignity 04:26  |  Joan Stuchner 30/04/07   2.   Israel and Darfur 05:11  |  Rabbi Ruven 30/04/07   3.   Physicians? 06:30  |  KT 30/04/07   4.   To KT 07:38  |  mark 30/04/07   5.   Employers normally pay for health insurance! 09:43  |  Fairplay 30/04/07   6.   Death versus sitting? hmmmm 10:36  |  FOX 30/04/07   7.   KT human rights? 10:40  |  FOX 30/04/07   8.   Glad to have them here 13:28  |  Nik Miller 30/04/07   9.   Employers who hire any refugee can pay.... 19:01  |  The Archives 22/05/08

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