IMMIGRATION – Mirisola (NIHMP): “Healthy migrants and few infections reported”. The mission of the NIHMP team in Lampedusa is prolonged

ROME, 18 MAY 2011 – Migrants landed at Lampedusa “are a fundamentally healthy population, and only a few cases of infectious diseases were reported”, said Concetta Mirisola, Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty (NIHMP). Her arrival on the island was the occasion for a meeting of the NIHMP medical team working with Angelo Bagnasco, president of the CEI (Italian episcopal conference), who was visiting Lampedusa.
“Almost all the migrants arrived in Lampedusa – said Mirisola – are healthy and, according to the data of our doctors, only a few cases of infectious pathologies were reported”.
“A team of 24 health operators have been on the island, including doctors, psychologists and cultural mediators”, added Concetta Mirisola, “they have carried out medical activities in an outpatient department and have also assisted the local population”.
“At the beginning”, specified the Chief Executive Officer, “the NIHMP team was supposed to remain on the island for April and May, but since landings are continuing, we decided to prolong our mission on the island”. “At the moment, there are 280 migrants, but new arrivals are expected”. (ANSA press agency).