to Noakhali [on the mainland] for testing and medication and that depends entirely on whether the CiC gives them permission to leave the island. 126 A majhi, Yousuf, 47, said that the number of refugees requesting permission to leave the island for malaria tests was already increasing: “People are getting mosquito bites at night and are suffering symptoms like bone pain,” he added. 127 Akbar, 55, for instance, had developed malaria symptoms. “I am feeling very afraid because I have been suffering from bad headache, vomiting, and severe fever. But I am not getting proper treatment and medicines here. Now I am praying,” he said. 128 Refugees said that the conditions in the camps in Cox’s Bazar are not ideal but at least there is access to medical care. “If we were in the camps at least we would be able to go to the health post or the MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières or Doctors Without Borders] hospital,” Sultana said. 129 Hafez Ullah, a camp leader who visited the island as part of the “go-and-see” visit in September 2020, expressed concern over the lack of adequate health care: “We might live inside the camps with so many problems but at least here we have organizations providing us health facilities before anyone’s health condition becomes grave.” 130 Amdad’s 18-month-old daughter died of pneumonia less than a month after arriving on Bhasan Char. He said that she had developed pneumonia while they were still in the camps in Cox’s Bazar, but there they were able to access oxygen support at the MSF hospital. 131 He said that when they arrived on Bhasan Char and his daughter again began having trouble breathing, the doctors rebuffed his concerns: When we came here [to Bhasan Char] on February 14, for the first month she was doing fine. But on March 11, she was having the breathing problem again and I rushed her to the government healthcare facility here. The 126 Human Rights Watch interview with healthcare worker, details withheld, Bhasan Char, Bangladesh, April 29, 2021. 127 Human Rights Watch interview with Yousuf, Bhasan Char, Bangladesh, April 29, 2021. 128 Human Rights Watch interview with Akbar, Bhasan Char, Bangladesh, April 23, 2021. 129 Human Rights Watch interview with Aziz, Bhasan Char, Bangladesh, May 16, 2020. 130 Human Rights Watch interview with Hafez Ullah, Bhasan Char, Bangladesh, September 10, 2020. 131 Oxygen is an essential medicine on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines mandated by the WHO Action Programme on Essential Drugs, meaning equal access to these medications is considered a core, non-derogable obligation under the right to health. “AN ISLAND JAIL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA” 40