The recent death of a Myanmar detainee at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau underlines the inadequate medical treatment asylum seekers face nationwide from chronic staff shortages, experts say.
Anwar Hussin, 57, a member of the persecuted Rohingya ethnicity, suffered a brain hemorrhage Oct. 9 after being denied adequate medical assistance. He lost consciousness around noon after vomiting and suffering a seizure, according to People's Forum on Burma, a Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization that supports Myanmar refugees.
Other detainees in his cell repeatedly asked immigration officers to get help, but their requests for an ambulance and a doctor, who was reportedly not summoned because he was having lunch, were ignored, the group said. About 50 minutes had passed by the time the doctor showed up, and Anwar Hussin was confirmed dead Oct. 14 after being hospitalized, they said.