Cairo: An Egyptian child’s recent illegal travel to Italy, allegedly to seek medical care for his ill brother at home, seems to have taken Cairo aback.
The 13-year-old migrant reportedly reached the Italian city of Florence last week aboard a people-smuggling boat that sailed from his hometown of Kafr Al Shaikh in Egypt’s Delta across the Mediterranean Sea.
The boy was identified as Ahmad Mahmoud who was quoted in the Italian press as saying that he had gone on the risky journey in order to seek medical care for his seven-year-old brother Farid who suffers from a blood disorder. Ahmad added his poor family could not afford the expensive treatment.
Italy has agreed to provide free treatment for Farid and allow his family into the country after Ahmad showed medical documents confirming his brother’s case, according to Italian media.
The Egyptian government, often criticised over inefficient health care for the poor, has denied any negligence of duty in this particular case.
“He left Egypt illegally without Cairo’s knowledge,” a Foreign Ministry official said.
“Had he contacted the agencies concerned with providing medical treatment at the state expense, he would have got [free] treatment for his brother and spared himself the possibility of death during the journey,” the ministry’s spokesman Ahmad Abu Zeid added.
The government will provide free treatment for Ahmad’s brother, the official added.
“There is a place for any Egyptian who wants to get any sort of care or treatment in the country,” Abu Zeid told private station Dream TV.
“This is a message for anybody else who thinks of migrating illegally in search of an opportunity or to escape from a certain hardship that he would find support and complete sympathy in his homeland.”
Egyptian Health Minister Ahmad Emad meanwhile urged Ahmad’s family to contact his office in order to get free medical care for their ill son in Egypt.
There has been no word yet from the family whose exact whereabouts and full name are still unknown.
The boy’s disturbing story has brought the government under parliamentary criticism.
“The Egyptian migrant has embarrassed the Egyptian state,” MP Haitham Al Hariri said. “He put his life in danger in order to get medical treatment for his brother,” Al Hariri, a leftist, told private newspaper Al Shorouk. “He did a heroic act.”
The parliament’s Health Committee said it would investigate the incident.
“A bitter fact is that there are thousands of suffering cases like that of Ahmad’s brother,” Mustafa Abu Zeid, another lawmaker, said.
“The Health Ministry’s statement, that the child’s name is not on its list of applicants seeking treatment at the expense of the state, is unacceptable.”
There has been a spike in illegal migration from Egyptian coasts to Europe, mainly Italy, since the 2011 uprising in Egypt and ensuing unrest.
Around 1,815 Egyptians, including 1,147 unaccompanied minors, arrived in Italy in the first five months of 2016, semi-official newspaper Al Ahram reported, citing the International Organisation for Migration.
The figure makes Egypt the top country whose children travel on their own to Italy, according to the paper.
