|
Post by Admin on Aug 17, 2021 4:33:01 GMT
Japan's immigration authorities have disciplined four regional bureau officials for the death of a Sri Lankan woman at a detention facility in March. The Immigration Services Agency released a final report on Tuesday on the probe into the handling of Wishma Sandamali by the facility in Nagoya, central Japan. The 33-year-old woman had been detained for overstaying her visa. She began complaining of ill health at the facility in January and died there two months later. The report says Wishma had demanded that she be examined by a doctor and be put on an intravenous drip at a medical institution. But facility workers did not share such information with the director of the regional bureau, and rejected her request. The report points out that this was a violation of internal rules. The probe also found that the facility lacked an appropriate system to provide medical care, as there were no full-time doctors or nurses at the facility. Non-medical staff responded when Wishma's condition worsened in the lead-up to her death. The report says that the facility failed to promptly approve a request from Wishma that she be allowed to temporarily leave the facility in view of her worsening health. The report calls on facility officials to proactively approve such requests from people complaining of ill health. The agency reprimanded the bureau director and a former deputy director, and also issued strict warnings on two other senior officials. Agency Commissioner Sasaki Shoko apologized, saying that she bears responsibility for inadequacies in both the medical care system and organized responses. She also said she acknowledges that her organization lacked the alertness and wholeheartedness expected of a government body in charge of human lives. Sasaki said she plans to offer an apology to Wishma's bereaved family and release video footage of the woman recorded at the facility.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Aug 17, 2021 5:20:09 GMT
Japan's immigration agency said Tuesday a probe has found that an immigration center in central Japan mistreated a detained Sri Lankan woman who died in March, and it has reprimanded the facility's top officials and supervisors.
The Immigration Services Agency of Japan's final report on developments leading to the death of Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali, 33, said the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau in Aichi Prefecture failed to provide appropriate medical care for her, though the probe could not determine the cause of her death.
Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa apologized for the Nagoya facility's treatment of Wishma that resulted in her death and pledged to reform the country's immigration services.
"It's impossible to imagine how lonely, anxious and hopeless she must have felt as her health deteriorated," Kamikawa told a press conference.
Shoko Sasaki, head of the Immigration Services Agency of Japan, told a separate press conference, "The Nagoya bureau at that time lacked awareness of its responsibility to ensure the safety of people and respectfully engage with them."
The agency reprimanded the bureau's director and then deputy director as well as two supervisors overseeing the monitoring of detainees.
"We will take the issues raised (in the report) seriously and do our best to prevent any recurrences," the Nagoya bureau said in a statement.
The agency had set up an investigation team and heard from third-party experts including medical professionals in examining the case of Wishma, who came to Japan in 2017 on a student visa and was taken to the facility in Nagoya in August 2020 after overstaying her visa.
She died on March 6 while in custody after complaining of stomach pain and other symptoms from mid-January. She had applied for, but was refused, provisional release for hospital treatment.
Medical personnel were not available on Saturdays, the day that she died, and staff at the facility did not make an emergency call, according to the report.
The probe has also found Wishma's pleas for medical treatment and an examination by an outside doctor were never reported to managing staff, violating the facility's own rule.
|
|