“Our Response to the Current Medical Crisis Cannot Ignore People Trapped in Other Crises”

“S is 31 years old. He arrived in Italy a little over a month ago, having made an exhausting journey on foot from Pakistan to Milan, via the Balkan route. To make the journey even harder, one of his feet was horribly broken and went untreated.

The first time I saw him he was resting on a friend’s shoulder.

‘One of my crutches is broken and I can’t walk,’ he told me, as if by way of apology.

S does not have anywhere to stay. The streets of Milan are his home now.

Like hundreds of other homeless people, S went to access the services at Centro Sammartini, near Centrale station. One of EMERGENCY’s cultural mediators accompanied S to Accident & Emergency, where he had his foot treated.

We also let him know that he could go on getting the basic treatment he would need from us at our Mobile Clinic, which works in marginalised areas and outskirts of the city.

Our response to the current medical crisis cannot ignore people trapped in other crises: homelessness, hunger, poverty. It’s more important than ever that people who were already left behind are welcomed, recognised, and well protected.”

— Loredana, Mobile Clinic Coordinator and EMERGENCY’s representative at Centro Sammartini