The arrest of a Comorian mother accompanying her hospitalized child aroused the indignation of the humanitarian associations CIMADE and Médecins du Monde. Placed in a detention center for 5 days, she was finally released.
The lady had arrived in Reunion in September 2022 with a visa to accompany her sick 11-year-old daughter. On February 27, police officers came to the hospital room to carry out a check and took him to the detention center with a view to being deported to the border because his visa had expired. She remained locked up there for 5 days, during which the child was placed in a foster family.
A judge canceled the obligation to leave French territory because the identity check was marred by irregularities. The mother was released.
It appears in the procedure that the arrest was triggered following a report to the prefecture by a person working in the administration of the hospital. The Air and Border Police acted on the basis of information gathered during a social interview carried out by the hospital centre. Hence the anger of CIMADE and Médecins du Monde Océan Indien.
The two organizations signed a joint press release deploring “an alarming collusion between the Reunion University Hospital and the prefecture” and denouncing “the violation of medical secrecy and the confidentiality of social maintenance”.
The signatories also denounce “the multiplication of violations of the rights of patients who are sent back to Mayotte before being taken back to the border”.
