Syrian refugee granted asylum in Cayman dies in Jamaica
(CNS): Government officials said that one of two Syrian nationals who were granted refugee status in the Cayman Islands has died in Jamaica, where he was receiving medical treatment. The man claimed asylum in July 2013 when he was passing through Grand Cayman in transit from Cuba to Jamaica. The home affairs ministry gave no details regarding the cause of death of the refugee but said it was working with the Jamaican Consular office in the Cayman Islands to coordinate burial arrangements.
The deceased man was granted sanctuary in Cayman as a refugee in 2014 following what officials said was an extensive assessment and that he qualified for asylum under the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees.
He was reportedly admitted to the George Town Hospital last month and was later transported to Jamaica for further care.
Category: Local News
Sorry to hear about this.
Can someone expalin how this works? The article said one of them – how many are here? Do they work or are we funding them (home, school, food, medical care, etc.)? What is the leangth of time a person has to remian under aslum protection? What “protection” do we offer them? What are the implications for us if we (our country) have taken on the responsibily of ppl claiming asylum and they pass away under our care?
Hmmmm –
I’m also curious though how no one has picked up on how our tax free country with economic challenges with unemployment rates that still indicate Caymanians are struggling can afford to have an asylum program.
Christianity
My name is Sam and I am an Israeli nationality living and working in Jamaica.
The person that died, Meikael, was my close friend and I know his family very well..
He did not speak or understand English very well, so he asked me to speak with the doctor to know what’s happening with him and what were planning to do.
The doctor in Cayman Island refused to speak with me, and Meikael had leukaemia as well as being a diabetic.
They wanted to send him to the US, but I heard that homeland security refused him entrance to the US but I have no confirmation of this.
The Cayman government didn’t do anything about it and instead they sent him to Jamaica where he died.
I was with him every day in Jamaica and can state that the room they placed him in was very nasty with no air conditioning nor any equipment. They also did not give him any platelets or blood and we asked them what was happening and they informed us that everything was ok. On the day he died, at around 3 p.m. he complained of having a massive headache and asked for panadol and they gave him two tablets after speaking with the doctor. They never considered taking him to get a CT scan to see what was wrong. At around 7 p.m. his headache got worse and he could not breath properly. The surgeon came and indicated that they had to take him to get a CT scan and it seems that he was suffering from bleeding in his brain and they said to reduce the pressure they would need to open his skull and that he would have to stay in the emergency room connected to special equipment but that there was no space for him as there were no beds available in the emergency room and also they could not open his skull because his platelets was zero. This is what I found hard to understand as he was in UWI hospital for almost a week without getting any treatment and by the time they figured out about the bleeding in his brain it was too late. I blame the Cayman government for what happened as they did not try to solve the situation with Homeland security to get him to the US for treatment and his being sent to Jamaica sent him to his death. There was not contact person on his behalf living in Cayman that the hospital would deal with and if it were not for me or others here in Jamaica then he would not even have had toilet paper or soap to wash his hands or any other care for him. When he died the family made the painful decision to bury him in Jamaica bearing in mind the war in Syria.
We asked the Cayman government to assist with the cost of the burial, but we didn’t get any help. It was so sad that Cayman government didn’t try to contact any family member of Meikael when he died even though they have his brothers contact information that lives in Jamaica.
Every time and incident occurs the powers that be falls in a darker pit. Too sad to hear of his poor treatment in JAMAICA.
Cough up how many millions of dollars have been contributed to UWI Hospital over the years. What has the CIG and its people got in return?o
Very sad but free at last. RIP brother.
This man was seriously ill and was a victim of our very poor health care. It is time that the truth comes out.
“Another” Anothervictim of our ‘health care’
Some nice Caymankind racism in the thumbs down.
Why don’t you take a permanent vacation to Syria?
Who vetted these refugees could never be the government who can’t control a few criminals we got to be careful letting in these people
Sorry to hear this. Condolences the family and friends. RIP