Ask us for input, say migrants

By Shaun Inguanzo
TUBERCULOSIS and other refugee health fears would not have been a citywide concern if the Migrant Settlement Committee of Greater Dandenong allowed refugee community leaders to join its discussions.
So says Sudan Liaison Organisation administrative secretary Yien Thiang Luony after reading revelations in last week’s Star that local doctors are concerned that refugees with dire health problems, including tuberculosis, are failing to attend basic health checkups.
The Migrant Settlement Committee is comprised of service providers and council representatives from Greater Dandenong.
But it does not incorporate representatives from refugee communities.
Mr Thiang Luony said settlement was a two-way matter between settlers and service providers. He told Star that until reading last week’s story, many Sudanese people were unaware the Refugee Health Clinic at Dandenong Hospital existed.
Mr Thiang Luony said refugee health was a matter of the utmost importance to Sudanese community leaders. He said leaders could have passed on valuable information about the health clinic to their respective communities if they had been involved in the committee in April.
“The issue last week had to be picked out of the minutes of the meeting,” Mr Thiang Luony said.
“Had we been on the settlement committee we could have had input into the issue there and then, and it would have been quickly resolved.”
Noble Park North Ward councillor Maria Sampey, who first read the minutes of the April meeting when they arrived in councillors’ hands in August, said she had ‘stacks’ of people ring to discuss their concern over the issue. Cr Sampey said her intention was not to “bash the refugees”.
“I’m just concerned that maybe community leaders need to see their people and say that (health) is a serious issue, and make sure that they attend doctors’ appointments,” she said.