The already dire reception conditions for migrants arriving in the province of Darién, Panama, are deteriorating, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. MSF provides medical and mental health care at the San Vicente Migrant Reception Center and has witnessed huge gaps in protection, medical care, and basic emergency services for the approximately 300 migrants that arrive at the center each day.
“The conditions for receiving migrants are inadequate,” said Rabia Ben Ali, MSF coordinator in Panama. “Every day, hundreds of people arrive in Canaán Membrillo—the first village they arrive at in Panama after crossing the dangerous Darién Gap—but they do not receive any medical care. They are then taken three hours by boat to San Vicente where services are not sufficient and barely meet international standards.”
Last year, when migrants arrived in the town of Bajo Chiquito—where MSF and the Ministry of Health provided medical care—they were transferred to the Migrant Reception Centers of Lajas Blancas and San Vicente. Now, the area of Canaán Membrillo has become the point of arrival in Panama for most migrants, but there is no care available for victims of sexual violence or patients suffering from serious medical problems. By the time they arrive at the San Vicente Migrant Reception Center, their medical condition has often worsened, and it is usually too late for victims of sexual violence to receive some preventative treatments, such as prophylaxis to prevent infections, like HIV, or emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy— which should be administered within 72 hours of a rape.
In recent weeks, the number of people who have not received timely care within 72 hours after sexual violence has increased. The Panamanian authorities should urgently put in place mechanisms to detect victims of sexual violence in Canaán Membrillo and establish effective protection mechanisms to prevent attacks on migrants along the dangerous route between Colombia and Panama, MSF said.
“The conditions of the San Vicente facilities must also be improved,” said Ben Ali. “Shelters are not generally available and children and pregnant women sleep on the floor. Sanitary conditions are poor.” These conditions affect both the physical and mental health of migrants.
In April, MSF teams treated 78 patients a day on average, mostly for skin diseases and body aches. Twenty percent of the cases were related to diarrhea, respiratory infections, and digestive diseases.
MSF’s mental health team treated an average of six patients daily for conditions such as acute stress, depressive episodes, anxiety, and grief from the death of family members who died along the journey, including from drowning. These conditions were mostly triggered by experiences that occurred while crossing the dangerous Darién Gap, where MSF has documented sexual violence, robberies, and tragic accidents resulting from the treacherous terrain.
Although the number of migrants crossing the Darién in January and February decreased, it is once again on the rise in March and April. Instances of robbery and sexual violence are also increasing. From April 2021 to the first week of May, MSF treated 417 cases of sexual violence that occurred whilst crossing the Darién jungle.
MSF repeats its call for a safe route for migrants traveling north through Colombia and Panama, in addition to emergency medical care in Canáan Membrillo and an improved reception conditions at the San Vicente Migrant Reception Center.
