With his arm badly slashed and held in a sling by a belt, the man is preparing to enter the emergency room of the Mayotte hospital center (CHM), in Mamoudzou, the capital of the department. But he has a movement backwards. The service is so calm, so empty, that it seems disturbing. In the silent reception room, three or four men wait, their eyes half-closed, a mother holds her child in her arms. Usually, it is impossible to find a seat, sometimes you have to wait two days before being picked up.
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The situation got even worse after Cyclone Chido hit on December 14. In the hospital, devastated by the wind and rain, there were wounded lying on the ground, screams, crying, miscarriages. A tent had been set up outside to try to deal with the most pressing needs. Saturday, December 28, only a few dented plastic bottles remained inside.
Immediately, the man with the slashed arm becomes alarmed, he says to himself that there must be a police operation underway to control undocumented immigrants, as happens regularly at the emergency room doors, emptying the waiting room. He himself is in an illegal situation, like half of the island's 450,000 inhabitants, according to estimates. He must flee, quickly. A glance to the right, a glance to the left, but not a uniform is visible on the horizon, only a nurse on break, peacefully eating a roll.
“We told ourselves it wouldn’t work”
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