MdM Sweden: New legislation should guarantee the right to healthcare for everyone!

 

The Swedish Government and The Greens have agreed upon expanding the legislation in the area of healthcare for undocumented migrants. At a press conference this morning, the Minister for Social Affairs, Göran Hägglund, announced that the Government's ambition is that every person in Sweden shall have the same rights to healthcare. Parliament is to vote on a government proposal sometime early next year.

At this stage, Hägglund has not clearly stated exactly which groups of undocumented migrants are to be included in the legislation, but has expressed the Government's will for it to include every person in Sweden. Exactly which types of healthcare that are to be included were not explicitly explained either, other than that it will encompass dental and healthcare.

 

Läkare i världen work for everyone's right to have access to healthcare and strongly welcome the Government's initiative in this area. However, we believe that if the legislation is to bring about any change in the reality of the current situation, that every undocumented migrant, without exception, shall be included in the new proposal. That is to say, that new legislation should also include those people who have never applied for asylum, and on the whole, who have not come into contact with the Swedish authorities. Adult undocumented migrants in Sweden currently only have the opportunity to access emergency healthcare, and furthermore, must pay all costs without subsidy. The children of undocumented migrants who have never been subjected to the asylum seeking process also currently lack the right to full healthcare on equal terms with Swedish children.

 

"It is about time the Government changes its policy in this area" argues My Morin, chairperson of Läkare i världen. "Undocumented migrants who live in Sweden do not get the healthcare they need and are suffering, something we have long been criticised for, from amongst others, by the United Nation's former Special Rapporteur Paul Hunt. Healthcare is not just a human right. To deny people healthcare and force healthcare personnel to question the principle of care as required, according to science and proven experience, is a violation of medical ethics and undermines the health system", says My Morin.

 

Press release:

 

 

Contact person:
Lina Gamble
Director
Läkare i världen/ Médecins du Monde Sweden
Box 39006
SE-100 54 Stockholm
Sweden
Phone: +46 8 664 66 87
Fax: +46 8 663 66 86
Pg: 90 01 09-0
www.lakareivarlden.org