Global Fundraiser & Petition in Support of Sadrack Ndotar
We write as Decolonise MSF members to address the urgent life-or-death situation of our fellow colleague, Sadrack Ndotar, in Central African Republic (CAR).
Sadrack is dying of kidney failure. He is dying and in debt precisely because of MSF’s discriminatory health coverage policies, which themselves stem from an unequal staff structure that has been widely covered internally and in the press for the last year and a half. Now a man is dying as a result of this inaction. This is immoral, unjust, inhumane, and non-humanitarian.
Sadrack joined MSF-Belgium in CAR in 2015. He worked as a guard for 2 years protecting his fellow employees in Bangui. He was promoted to HR Development and training in 2017. He has been working with MSF France with a local detachment in Bangui since October 2021.
Sadrack recently fell ill. He went to the Intersection Clinic (run by MSF employees and for national employees who do not have the privilege to access dedicated expatriate doctors) and was referred to a specialist at Bangui Community Hospital, who confirmed a diagnosis of joint kidney failure at the Pasteur Institute in Bangui on December 1st.
No treatment is possible in CAR as the country does not have a dialysis machine. Sadrack had only one choice: remain in CAR and die, or go to Cameroon, which has a dialysis machine.
Sadrack left for Cameroon on his own to begin dialysis rather than die. He was able to do this with a loan granted by MSF Belgium in CAR (approximately 37 months of debt), which was finally received on December 9th after initially being refused. He needs two rounds of dialysis a week to stay alive.
A few days ago, Sadrack contacted the medical coordinator of MSF-Belgium in CAR to obtain reimbursement of his dialysis bills. This request was refused since Sadrack is a national staff and reimbursement is only applicable for procedures in CAR. Yet CAR, as a reminder, does not have a dialysis centre.
All employees at MSF, regardless of nationality and staff “category”, should have access to life-saving care and dignity. Some of Sadrack’s fellow employees know this and are doing what they can to help immediately: colleagues on national contracts in his project and from other sections have started an orange money system for donation. Staff from other NGOs are reaching out to see how they can support.
As members of Decolonise MSF, we have launched a global fundraiser and petition working in coordination with Sadrack and his fellow staff members in CAR. We aim to raise money to support his medical bills and ongoing costs (while MSF will not) and keep him alive. We hope in promoting his cause that we can, once again, advocate for equal treatment and equal rights for all staff.
Since starting the fundraiser and petition, MSF has committed to initial reimbursement of his medical (not his total) costs, with no plan for his ongoing medical and living costs. He requires 3 dialysis treatment rounds per week.
The fundraiser is here: https://bit.ly/3pymUS5
The global petition is here: https://bit.ly/3ECX0kx
We condemn in the strongest possible terms how MSF’s unequal staff structure has resulted in a completely preventable life-or-death situation for our fellow colleague. We urgently demand equal access to health care and supports for him. We hope, in the meantime, that our readers consider that anti-racism and anti-discrimination efforts at MSF are not simply rhetorical practices. They are about upholding the dignity and values that our organization is supposed to be founded upon. We cannot promote justice if we are not living our values with our own staff, if we allow them to simply perish.
Please contribute and share the petition and fundraiser widely.
Sincerely,
Virginie Kolengue Kaye Ange, Monica Mukerjee, and Arnab Majumdar
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
01.11.2022
1.11.22