Libya: Doctors Without Borders asked to leave
Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières/ MSF), the international medical organisation, has released a statement claiming that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Libya ordered them to leave the country by the 9th of November, Libya Review reported on October 29th.
This is not the first time the Libyan authorities have attempted to impose restrictions on MSF’s operations. Earlier this year, on 27th March, Libya’s Internal Security Agency instructed MSF to suspend all its activities in Libya. This move included the interrogation of several staff members as well, MSF states in their press release. They also pointed out that MSF isn’t the only humanitarian organisation affected by such restrictions, but nine other unnamed organisations too.
Speaking on the matter, Steve Purbrick, Head of Programmes for MSF in Libya, said, “We deeply regret this decision by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and we are concerned about the consequences for the health of the people we assisted. We believe that MSF still has an important role to play in Libya, particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, in supporting the Libyan health system, and also in providing access to healthcare for refugees and migrants, who are excluded from care and subject to arbitrary detention and serious violence in the country.”
MSF highlighted how there are now no international organisations to provide medical care and aid to refugees and migrants in western Libya.
The press release also contained significant statistics related to MSF’s work in Libya. This includes 15,000 medical consultations, 3,000 mental health consultations, and 2,000 tuberculosis consultations. MSF also played an integral role in evacuating patients to Italy through humanitarian corridors and provided emergency medical aid after the floods in Derna.
MSF still holds hope for its collaboration with the Libyan government and authorities, and clarifies that they hope to find a “positive solution.”
Libya Review, Maghrebi.org
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