Health workers from refugee background want to help fight COVID-19 A Journey shows man how this could be possible

Confinement cares Tamon Mark Andang Asongwe too. The crown Lockdown usually keeps him at his home in Athens, but it is not the first time that his freedom was threatened. There were three routes in prison for political activism back home in Cameroon; A spell in detention migration in Turkey; a terrifying two hours at sea in a sailing boat overloaded for Greece in 2018 and then six months in a refugee camp on the island of Lesbos. So, despite the difficulties that the 19-COVID pandemic led Asongwe is optimistic: he has a job to do and to play an important role in the host society. Five days a week, traveling to a structure Asongwe geriatric care where he puts on a mask, gloves and other protective equipment and does everything possible for people to keep you safe and high their spirits. “I am so grateful that the greek government for giving me the chance to live a normal life,” says the 31-year-old nurse, speak of his home in Athens. “The care of the greek people is a way to show my appreciation.” Around the world, thousands of people from refugee environments with experience in the healthcare industry for the treatment of an important resource in the fight COVID-19 were able to show patients. Countries examined, including Ireland, Germany, Australia and France, this potential, and the response from the refugee community is huge. Hundreds of people have come forward in the United Kingdom, Germany and other countries. But doctors are among the most regulated in the world, and experts say innovative solutions needed to the challenge of monitoring logistics to overcome people skills, and provide them with skills. “In many countries health systems are either overwhelmed or at the point of overwhelmed,” Sjur Bergan, chief says training for the euro Council of Europe, an intergovernmental organization Human Rights. “We have to think.” Asongwe qualified as a nurse in 2015 and spent years in hospitals in Cameroon, the recovery of malaria and typhoid patient work support and surgical wards. But his involvement with a separatist movement in the south-west landed him in prison three times, and in 2018 fled to the house. When he arrived in the Greek islands, he worried about the parts of his life he can leave behind. “Am I Threw all my career gone?” He wondered. Nursing has never been just a job for Asongwe: “It’s part of who I am. Nursing is a profession: it is a way of life.” While waiting for his decision on Asongwe seekers registered seasonal cleaning jobs in the tourist sites . The rules are different in the EU, with some countries to deny asylum seekers the right to work, but Greece has occupancy permit, provided that certain conditions are met. Then in January 2019 he heard on the European qualification passport for Refugees (EQPR), a regulation by the Council of euro launched in 2017. Many professionals from outside E.U. Fighting to get their qualifications recognized, and people seeking asylum chasing face other challenges, because they have been forced to flee without their documentation. Under the program, such as a recurring subject them, so it has an in-depth interview with two experts in their field. While EQPR is not the equivalent of the qualification, it can be a first step in the process to obtain recognition in the field of medicine and other professions. For Asongwe was enough to get him a job as an assistant nurse in a senior care facility in Athens, and began work in November. There were no cases COVID-19 in his nursing home confirmed so far, but the isolation takes its toll. Asongwe emphasizes how important it is to search for both physical and mental health of residents. He laughs as he tells to help them master new technologies, and how their faces light up when they connect with their loved ones. “I love it so much, I have a wonderful time,” she says. “For me, working at the moment, it is a great relief. I do a lot more of my time, a lot more to make my training I do.”, Says Bergan people from refugee background the job opportunity is to to provide a win-win situation. “It means you can be in their host societies help them feel useful, feel motivated, and if and when they return home their societies, they come back with complementary skills and experiences in order to help build the country again.” But the EQPR control is limited as before. So far, out of 454 candidates, 46 have health-related backgrounds. Bergan says, the number of interviews with health experts to help with the crisis, but there are logistical obstacles including procurement experts to conduct more interviews and want to increase the transition from face to face for video calls. EUROPEAN UNION. Governments are also struggling with the practice. Frédérique Pharaboz, educational advisor to the integration of refugees in the French Ministry of Interior said that before the appearance of the crown responded reactivate a central health service reserve corps, which was founded in 2007 to address the H5N1 crisis. He got more than 19,000 new applicants, including people from refugee environments, but crashed the site. The small team of Paris fought to control all the candidates, qualifications, and so far, only 719 reservists were mobilized. introduced as seven regions in March to their own Renfort Covid regime (Covid gain) is coupled with the applicant directly to hospitals and other medical facilities that do background checks themselves. So far, 5,500 people have in these regions in action. “In times of crisis, you need flexibility,” says Pharaboz. He also sees an opportunity to change perceptions about refugees. “We need to show that being a refugee is not an identity,” he says. “These people are doctors, nurses, have children, have a normal life.” Because of the extreme right in France, people [refugees] performance will think all his life and a burden to our society. If we show a weight away, help alleviate the burden of the crown, which is very powerful. “This message could also have a major impact in Germany, arrived in 2015, nearly one million saw refugees a political reaction primer. Now medical associations in many German regions, the refugee community have asked for help. These regions are Saxony, the heart of the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany. in late March, 300 volunteers answered the call. But in some countries the crisis COVID-19 existing frustrations intensified. Ahmad Al-Qassab, 44, is a surgeon orthopedics with 16 years of experience in Iraq. he arrived in the UK in 2015 and has spent the last five years advantages spent in social housing revive as he tried to happen required the strict language, technical and theoretical evidence to retrain as a doctor in the UK has an examination on the left, but because the crown moved pandemic was that. “we want to offer, we are ready, we have the knowledge, we have the experience and we the courage, “he says. “If you give hope to work, we will show the world that we are efficient.” The RefuAid charity has identified 541 medical professionals who work towards upgrading and help telling crown including 230 doctors in the UK could. Another organization called medical professionals looking for the registration in the United Kingdom sent a letter in late March to the General Medical Council (GMC), asked to give people like Al-Qassab temporary, so that they can work under the supervision. “Look at us as part of the country, not as part of another country,” says the group’s founder, Hiba Al Zamzamy. “Give to us to be the right side of the crisis.” A Lane, director of recording and GMC reappointment, TIME said they were “enormously grateful” for offers of help, but “Physicians must ensure the skills and knowledge safely in the UK needed to practice the” out-pointed allowing opportunity to work with the National Health Service as a laborer medical support, doctors with foreign degrees who have passed the language test to make limited clinical duties. Al-Qassab applied for this role three weeks ago, but he had no answer. So, instead of using his skills, he sits at home watching the news, wondering what his future. “You can not imagine how frustrated I am,” he says. “I have all the medicine my life studying. And ‘the only thing I’m good.”
Picture copyright by Marco Argüello for TIME