THE PUBLIC HEALTH RISK WE’RE IGNORING: Medical xenophobia
By Zenoyise John:
(Image: Sandz)
When a virus knocks at your door, it won’t ask for your ID. Let’s be honest: there is fear in our hospitals. Fear of overcrowding, fear of under-resourcing, fear that there's not enough for “our own.” But what happens when that fear leads us to make decisions that put everyone - citizen and migrant alike = in danger?
When a sick foreigner is chased away from a clinic, some may feel justified. But let’s pause. What if that patient had tuberculosis? What if they had a contagious strain of meningitis? What if they had Ebola? When they are denied access to care, they don’t disappear = the danger simply shifts location, quietly multiplying among the very communities we claim to be protecting.
South Africa has always carried itsel...