Racism gangrene care in Switzerland

For the racism gangrene care switzerland defense, it is “a joke of bad taste”. For example, The Valais prosecutor’s office denounces a “discrimination and an incentive to hatred ”. However, Tuesday, in Sion, a 77 -year -old Valaisan appeared before the courts for facts dating back to October 2023. However, As part of a radiology exam. Similarly, the accused would have affirmed to a Métis medical secretary being “allergic to anything, except for people who do not have the same skin color as me”.

The complainant, “upset” by this episode, remains “still well marked today”, according to her husband, called to testify. For example, “She lost self-confidence and suffered anxiety about going to work,” he adds.

The judgment will be rendered on a later date and the presumption of innocence prevails at this stage. Moreover, The fact remains that this case is in racism gangrene care switzerland the wake of an observation drawn up by the network of. However, consulting centers for victims of racism: Cases of discrimination are multiplying in the world of care.

Twice as many reports – Racism gangrene care switzerland

Published last April, the report on racism devotes its main theme to the health. Meanwhile, A total of 46 reports – or consultations requested by victims from the network – were identified in 2024. Similarly, It was almost double that 2023. Meanwhile, But above all. Moreover, it is “the tip of the iceberg”, warns Giulia Reimann, scientific collaborator with the Federal Commission against Racism. “We start from the principle that many cases are not reported. In health, in particular, these are sometimes very personal situations, which can be more difficult to share. ”

If racism is not confined to care racism gangrene care switzerland – the field of education. the workplace are statistically more affected by discrimination – the clear progression of cases challenges professionals in the branch.

The Swiss Association of Nurses (ASI) recognizes this, “racism undeniably exists”, supports Pierre-André Wagner, legal manager of the ASI. He specifies in passing that the discrimination is not one -way. The victims are sometimes caregivers, but also patients. Like the authors.

Three racist diagrams

To decipher the phenomenon, Pierre-André Wagner distinguishes three cases. “There is racism between colleagues, the racism of patients towards caregivers and the racism of caregivers towards patients,” he notes. Discrimination coincide. for the most part, with “classic forms of mobbing: ignore, slander with colleagues, intrigue, humiliate and lower”, specifies the lawyer.

In the field, the examples are legion. Witness the cases racism gangrene care switzerland identified by Vanessa Kangni. project manager for the Lausanne office for immigrants (BLI) and responsible for info-racism permanence. Racism towards the patient, first. “We observe situations where they undergo differentiated management because of their origin. their skin color,” she denounces in reference to “late diagnoses, undervalued pain, refusals of access to certain care or contemptuous attitudes of certain members of medical staff”.

In this interview with the organization humanrights.chVanessa Kangni also notes that “patients refuse to be taken care of by a racialized doctor”. that certain caregivers “from racialized minorities face harassment at their workplace”. This is the case of Stefano and Adam.

Mockery and contempt

These two nurses of foreign origin work at Geneva University Hospitals (Hug). Graduates in care after professional retraining, they have been working for almost a year in the racism gangrene care switzerland branch. On a daily basis, they undergo comments from a fringe of their colleagues. We make fun of their accent, their origin, their mother tongue and their sexual orientation. “At the beginning. I minimized the events, because I did not want to make waves, but it is clearly moral harassment,” said Stefano.

In the absence of hurtful comments, collaborators show their contempt through silence. “Some colleagues have never spoken to me, even when I greet them in the morning,” says Stefano. If he feels “infantilized” by his peers, he also regrets that his ideas are almost systematically swept. “I am taken to task by some people. however, I think I am a constructive someone looking for the common good.”

Stefano and Adam affirm, they have reported these behaviors several times. “We are not the only ones, others know racism gangrene care switzerland the same problems,” said Adam. But according to the two nurses. “no concrete measure has been taken, if not the implementation of an awareness intended for about twenty people and never renewed”.

But at the end of the race. they say, “there is no improvement when the hierarchy is perfectly aware of the situation”.

Lonely victims?

For its part, the Federal Commission against Racism deplores the few relays available to the victims. “Often, the people concerned do not know where to turn. There is a lack of awareness of nursing staff and the institution in itself, ”says Giulia Reimann.

According to her, only “effective and independent reporting mechanisms for patients and caregivers” can stop the trend. And thus treat an infection that spreads into the branch.

Did you find an error? Please report it to us.

0 comments