Sistan and Baluchestan: Deprivation of those without ID cards from receiving the coronavirus vaccine and medical services
While numerous reports indicate a significant increase in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Sistan and Baluchestan, many people in this province without ID cards, for whom exact statistics have not yet been announced, They are deprived of receiving the vaccine. These people are also deprived of health insurance and often refuse to visit medical centers due to lack of sufficient financial resources. In addition, in the deprived province of Sistan and Baluchestan, some citizens are deprived of receiving the coronavirus vaccine and medical services due to the lack of medical centers in their cities and villages, the long distance and uneven roads to visit medical centers.
According to HRANA news agency, citing Hamshahri, while numerous reports indicate a significant increase in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Sistan and Baluchestan, many people without ID cards in this province, whose exact number has not yet been announced, have been deprived of receiving the vaccine.
These people are also deprived of health insurance and often refuse to visit medical centers due to lack of sufficient financial means. In addition, in the deprived province of Sistan and Baluchestan, some citizens are deprived of receiving the coronavirus vaccine and medical services due to the lack of medical centers in their cities and villages, the long distance and uneven roads to visit medical centers.
After those dark days of July when the coronavirus swept through Sistan and Baluchestan, vaccinations accelerated and have now reached 35-year-olds, but in the meantime, the anonymous ones come and go, and they only look with regret at the vaccination of others.
Fatemeh Kaykhah, a general practitioner who participated in one of the jihadist camps on the outskirts of Zahedan, said in this regard: “I visited 60 patients in the Hemmatabad neighborhood (on the outskirts of Zahedan). I had the vaccine with me, but 50 of them did not have any identity documents so that I could inject them. It was very bitter those moments when they left the clinic without getting vaccinated. The taste of discrimination this time is more bitter than ever for those without ID cards; perhaps even more deadly! The problem is not just the vaccine, even if they die from Corona, they will not be included in any statistics because they do not have identity documents. It was not from the beginning and it will not be in the end.”
Shafieh, a young girl who did not want to be identified, says: “They bring the dead to Lar or take them to the cemetery (near Zahedan) and bury them. It is terrible, everyone who sees it loses their spirit. Many of these dead people do not have burial permits, they were alive but did not have any proof of life, that is why they bury them without any ceremony; every day there is a sound of wailing and groaning from the cemetery next to the house, we have become neighbors with death. That is why I would like to get vaccinated; both myself and my mother.”
There are no specific statistics on the number of people with undocumented status in Sistan and Baluchestan province, but some estimates put the number at up to 100,000, and according to the former representative of the city of Zahedan, 30 percent of these people live in the city of Zahedan.
Noor, another girl without an ID card who heard that the province had received a vaccine and that there was enough for everyone, said: “We are also people of this country. Now, for once, they were not concerned about ID cards and national ID cards and were vaccinating us too. Won’t we get coronavirus? Aren’t our lives in danger? What vaccine are they withholding from us?”
No insurance, no treatment.
Those without ID cards are not only concerned about vaccines. The heavy treatments for the coronavirus disease are also weighing on their shoulders and bothering them. Without an ID card, there is no insurance, and without insurance, the costs of treatment skyrocket.
Dr. Keykhah says: “Some use the insurance booklets of neighbors or other family members; for example, a 50-year-old woman brought a 6-year-old child’s booklet, and I couldn’t write the medicine of a 50-year-old woman in the child’s booklet.” In his opinion, one of the reasons for the death of patients without identification is the failure to go to the hospital; “Many of these people with very low blood oxygen levels refuse to go to the hospital; because they don’t have identification documents and insurance, and this alone makes their presence in the hospital difficult and exhausting. It happens that they give the gift of going to the hospital to their partner, they go home, and then their fate becomes unknown. No one knows whether they will die or survive.”
Many of the undocumented live in neighborhoods far from clinics, schools, and other public places. Noor says they have to walk at least two hours to reach the road. There are no cars, and they have to get into the city on trucks or vans that come from the industrial estate; "It is almost impossible to get to the city at night because no vehicles pass through that area."
Provincial doctors say that the minimum cost for treating an outpatient with COVID-19, including a simple drug and serum, is about 100,000 tomans. Some female patients, who are often anonymous, sit in front of pharmacies with their children to obtain the same amount, begging people to pay for their prescriptions.
Vaccination of undocumented immigrants, who have neither insurance nor are under the supervision of support institutions, can reduce their suffering. But how can those whose houses are built on unauthorized land and whose names are not registered in any health center hope to receive two doses of the vaccine?
In contrast to those who are willing to get vaccinated, there are also those who are mistakenly refusing to get vaccinated due to misconceptions and negative mindsets; those who have been called for public vaccinations but have not yet visited medical centers to receive the vaccine. Hossein Boroumand, another Sistani physician, says in this regard: “In addition to the first group who show a great desire to get vaccinated, we have clients who are refusing to get vaccinated.” Of course, staying away from vaccination centers is also one of the factors that reduces the motivation of citizens in this region to get vaccinated.
Mohammad is one of those who has not been vaccinated for this reason, saying: "Here, the distance between one village and another is very long; let alone one city and another. The centers they recommend for vaccination are very far away, and this is why many people are discouraged from getting vaccinated."
Boroumand believes that; "Perhaps on the outskirts of Zahedan, door-to-door vaccination projects, similar to what was done for the polio vaccine, would be useful. Vaccination of undocumented people, as one of the most vulnerable groups against Corona, would also help reduce the epidemic on the outskirts of the city. In this way, NGOs, as the only supporters of these people, can come to the aid of health centers to identify and inject the vaccine."
According to the Director General of Civil Registration of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, since 2013, the cases of more than 9,000 families without identity cards have been examined, resulting in the issuance of about 30,000 identity cards to some of them. Among them, more than 1,500 cases have been rejected for citizenship. In 2019, 803 applicant families opened cases with the provincial commission for those without identity cards, of which 2,000 were successful in receiving identity cards, and citizenship for 311 cases was also rejected. Despite this, a large number of residents of the outskirts of cities and villages of Sistan and Baluchestan remain without identity. With the amendment to the citizenship law, hopes for these people to receive identity cards have increased, of course, the complicated procedure and difficult conditions for proving the mother's Iranian citizenship or the father's foreign identity have still kept some people in suspense; people who are not covered by any support organization (welfare or relief committee) and are deprived of citizenship services such as insurance, subsidies, etc.; an issue that has made life more difficult for them in the Corona situation.
Source: HRANA
