Medecins Sans Frontieres plans first Canada project as COVID-19 threatens homeless
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Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is designing a 400-bed facility for homeless people in Toronto in its first Canadian project, a top official said, prompted by the risks posed by the coronavirus to vulnerable sections of society.
MSF’s move comes as advocates are calling for faster action to prevent the spread of the virulent respiratory virus among a population uniquely at risk of being infected and infecting others.
“Rarely do we consider actually doing operations in the context where there are healthy, functional health systems and standards of living are generally high,” MSF Canada’s executive director, Joseph Belliveau, told Reuters. “But COVID is changing the playing field.”
A spokeswoman for Inner City Health Associates, which will provide clinical services at the facility, said it would be up and running in about 10 days. The city and province of Ontario are sharing the cost, which has yet to be determined.
MSF is sharing its expertise with local health workers to design the coronavirus facility for the homeless, Belliveau said. The group is also considering taking on projects with other vulnerable populations in Canada – indigenous communities and the elderly in long-term care facilities, which have been hardest hit by COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
