A 21-year-old Malian man, who arrived in Spain in a cayuco just two months ago, died last Monday in the Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) immigrant reception camp, as confirmed this Wednesday by the spokesperson for the NGO Accem, which manages the facilities. The cause of death is still unknown, although it is known that the boy, registered as Diallo Sissoko, suffered from a respiratory infection and inflammation in his left leg. The Secretary of State for Migration, responsible for the center, is now awaiting the results of the autopsy. The NGO has explained that the family and the Malian embassy are already informed.
Like thousands of Malian refugees in recent monthsDiallo Sissoko, who landed on the Canary Island of El Hierro on August 27, had boarded a canoe in Mauritania to flee the war in his country. After his stay in a reception center on the islands, the NGO indicates that he was transferred on September 15 to the Alcalá de Henares reception camp. This center, a former barracks, was opened urgently last year to house some of the people disembarked in the Canary archipelago who were transferred to the Peninsula. The facilities, managed by Accem, They had an initial capacity for about 1,100 people and currently house around 1,500.
Although the circumstances of the death – which was first reported by the NGO Spanish Immigration and Refugee Aid Network and later confirmed by Accem – are still unclear, sources from the NGO that manages the center explain that the boy was referred to emergency room of the Príncipe de Asturias University Hospital on the afternoon of October 15. He complained of chest pain. He returned at night with a diagnosis of non-pneumonic respiratory infection and with pharmacological treatment (analgesics), which did not include antibiotics despite the infection. He was also instructed to apply an anti-inflammatory cream to his left leg. Two days later, the young man returned to the reception center’s infirmary because he was not feeling well and they gave him crutches. The same sources maintain that at that time “he had no signs of inflammation or heat in the area or respiratory difficulty.” The next day, the medical team saw him again and, as the pain continued, they increased the prescribed dose of painkillers.
The situation remained apparently stable over the weekend, until last Monday, October 21, Diallo collapsed from his bunk while he was sleeping. He went to the infirmary at 7:45. His right knee hurt and the condition was beginning to worsen, the same sources assert. Given his hypotension, an ambulance was called, while health personnel tried to raise his blood pressure, without success. Diallo went into cardiorespiratory arrest. The paramedics continued to try resuscitation and around 9:30 the young man was taken to the hospital. “An hour later the hospital is contacted for more information about their status and they communicate that they are still in BOX Vital with the user. They do not give more information,” these sources report. At 1:30 p.m., a call from the hospital confirms his death after almost five hours of resuscitation.
Now, the suspicion harbored by some members of the staff who treated him is that the pain in his leg was not a simple inflammation, perhaps derived from a painful trip in a canoe, but a blood clot that ended up causing Diallo Sissoko a lethal pulmonary thromboembolism.
The representative of Más País Tesh Sidi has registered this Wednesday in Congress a series of questions to the Government about the case and has requested permission from Migrations to enter the center of Alcalá de Henares. Among the issues raised, Sidi is interested in the measures that the Government is taking to improve medical care in the reception camps, in addition to the current protocol to guarantee it. The deputy also investigates the saturation of some centers and asks if an investigation will be opened to clarify whether the young man’s death could have been avoided.
