Three asylum seekers were taken into detention by the Immigration Department soon after giving birth at Hospital Kuala Lumpur in the last fortnight after complaints from the hospital, a rights group claims.

According to Health Equity Initiative, the women and their husbands were informed that they would be detained after giving birth, raising anxieties in the already stressful condition of childbirth.

Health Equity Initiative director Sharuna Verghis added that one asylum-seeker was taken into custody with her newborn baby “in spite of pleas to let the woman stay overnight at hospital until UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) had the opportunity to intervene in the morning”.

Sharuna warned that such developments will discourage vulnerable women from seeking maternal healthcare and could lead to botched abortions.

She said it is understood that even those who had undergone caesarean births would be taken to the detention camp soon after delivering, raising fears of post-natal infections.

“Immigration policies of arresting and detaining such vulnerable women, especially at the time of childbirth, make Malaysia and its policies appear cruel and inhumane,” she said in a statement.

HKL: We never turn away patients

When contacted, Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) denied allegations that it had sent patients requiring medical care into detention.

“We have an immigration one-stop centre in the hospital so migrants can get a letter from immigration there for outpatient care. If they have a UNHCR card, they get a 50 percent discount.

“But in emergency cases, like childbirth, we will admit them first and provide care. We never turn away people in need of medical attention. We think of the billing part later,” a spokesperson said.

According to Immigration Department Kuala Lumpur deputy director of enforcement James Musa Singa, the women were among 71 migrants who were detained after they were discharged by the hospital from March 13 to April 2.

They are citizens of Indonesia (23 people), Myanmar (14), Turkey (12), Bangladesh (11), India (five) and three from Pakisatan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines respectively.

“The hospital informs us when they will be discharged and we will then pick them up. We are only acting under the Immigration Act as these are illegal migrants.

“This also benefit Malaysians as right now the migrants are taking up a lot of space in hospital at the cost of citizens,” he said when contacted.

Nine children under 12 detained

Insisting that there are no “asylum-seekers” in detention centres, James said that there are currently nine children under 12 in detention with their mothers.

However, they are placed in a separate area “like a nursery” with their mothers and are provided diapers and milk on the Immigration Department’s tab.

He said one of the detainees nabbed at a hospital had been discharged despite still requiring treatment as the hospital needed beds.

“My officer takes him to the hospital every day for his injections and he is running up a bill of RM17,000, which he cannot pay,” he said.

Unpaid bills from non-citizens in HKL last year amount to more than RM2 billion.

“We will continue to assist the hospital when called as there is overcrowding in the wards. Right now citizens are competing with illegal migrants (for beds),” he said.