Asmara, 25 June, 2019 / 3:30 pm (ACI Africa).
The Eritrean Catholic Church has criticized the government of the one-party state for seizing and closing its 22 health clinics throughout the country last week.
“The government can say it doesn't want the services of the Church, but asking for the property is not right,” read a letter from the Church to the Eritrean health ministry, the BBC reported June 17.
The Church added that its social services cannot be characterized as opposition to the government.
In seizing the clinics, patients were told to return to their homes, and military are guarding the buildings.
Of the 22 Catholic clinics in Eritrea, eight are in the Eritrean Eparchy of Keren alone, where they serve an estimated 40,000 patients annually.