Thousands of Afghan refugees in British hotels are now asking to go back to their home country not even a month in.
Operation Warm Welcome, the government’s Afghan resettlement programme, was launched by Boris Johnson to help Afghan refugees arriving in the UK. It aimed to provide support to the refugees so they could “rebuild their lives, find work, pursue education and integrate into their local communities”, according to the Guardian.
Claustrophobic
The nature of the operation was so sudden that around 7,000 Afghan refugees were placed in British hotels as emergency temporary accommodation. Home Office officials admitted that some will be held in them for months.
One doctor, who has been working with the newly arrived Afghans for weeks, talked to the guardian but requested anonymity.
The source said: “I’ve had a few patients telling me they want to go home.”
The GP said that one man expressed frustration for being unable to leave the hotel room. Another Afghan was so upset, the doctor had to put both him and his wife on medication to calm them down.
Health care concerns
There are also concerns over healthcare for those held in hotels following the evacuation from Kabul airport, says the Guardian. It seems that Afghans are confused as to how they can get access to local GPs for health concerns. There were even fears of running out of baby milk as well.
A Shocking Failure
One council leader described the government’s programme as a “shocking failure”. Councillor Danny Thorpe of the Royal Borough of Greenwich said: “There was a huge mismatch between the rhetoric of senior government politicians and their actions to support those people.”
