Austerity and xenophobia creating barriers to healthcare in Europe

‘As healthcare professionals we are demanding our right to provide healthcare to all patients, regardless of their social status or ethnic origin. We want our national public health systems to remove the barriers to medical care faced by our societies’ vulnerable people.’ Says Liana Maili spokesperson for Doctors of the World Greece.

The report, Access to Healthcare in Europe in Times of Crisis and Rising Xenophobia, calls for European governments to take immediate action in the following areas:

·a coherent EU public health policy for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.

·equal access for all to national immunisation schemes and to paediatric care.

·equal access to pre- and post-natal care for all pregnant women (of those surveyed, 59 per cent of pregnant women did not have access to pre-natal care on the day our health professionals met them).

·granting full protection in Europe for seriously ill migrants who cannot access adequate healthcare in their country of origin.

The report also finds xenophobia to be a growing problem, with migrants often being made scapegoats for economic problems. Moreover, counter to claims of widespread ‘health tourism,’ among the reasons for migration only 1.6 per cent concerned personal health reasons.

Of the Doctors of the World patients surveyed in 14 European towns and cities, 20 per cent had been denied access to care by a healthcare provider in the last 12 months and 81 per cent had no possibility of accessing care without paying the full costs in advance.

‘Unemployment and child poverty are on the rise, and more and more people face losing their homes because of insolvency. ‘Europe needs strong social welfare systems now more than ever.’

As April 7 marks World Health Day, Doctors of the World calls on European governments to ensure that national public health systems are built on solidarity, equality, and equity, open to everyone living in a European Member State. We call for our political leaders to fight xenophobia, and condemn misleading allegations about so-called ‘health tourism’.

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