Rabat – A court in Bordeaux has refuted the asylum-seeking and residence permit requests by Moroccan national Adel who seeks treatment in France for bethlem myopathy.
The degenerative disease makes Adel entirely dependent on others since 80% of his body is disabled.
Born in Casablanca, the 38-year-old Adel entered France in 2019 with a tourist visa before filling out an asylum application and applying for a residence permit for a sick foreigner.
Upon his arrival, Adel was admitted to the Bordeaux University Hospital where he received the treatment needed for his disease.
While the requirements for a residence permit for a sick foreigner apply to Adel’s condition, the court’s ruling disapproved his request, says Adel’s lawyer Mandy Rezeau-Mera who specializes in immigration law.
The court refuted Adel’s asylum-seeking and residence permit requests after his lawyers filed an appeal in February. The appeal followed another rejection from the Gironde prefecture.
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In an interview with Actu Bordeaux, Rezeau-Mera noted that the special residence permit goes to individuals whose state of health requires medical care that is not provided in their countries of origin.
Adel was unable to justify that he could not be treated in Morocco, the court said, adding that Moroccan healthcare provides appropriate treatment for bethlem myopathy.
Yet Adel’s lawyer denounced the court’s ruling, stating: “there are few health caregivers in Morocco and a fortiori few [professionals] available full-time. The average salary of a full-time caregiver is around MAD 3,000 to 4,000 per month (between €300 and €400) while the average salary in Morocco is around €340!”
He then pointed to Adel’s lack of resources to finance his treatment in Morocco, asking rhetorically: “How to finance it [the treatment] for a man who has no resources?”
The court’s decision has caused fear and anxiety for Adel who received his obligation to leave French territory on February 28. But Adel’s lawyer continues to hope that the court’s ruling would not be executed.
“My parents are over 70 years old, they are too old to take care of me, and there is no institute adapted to my pathology in Morocco,” Adel told Actu Bordeaux. “Over there [in Morocco], if I don’t die from the lack of care, I would wither mentally”.
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