Immigrants lacking legal residence will have their access to the Catalan public healthcare guaranteed
The Catalan Government has rejected the Spanish Executive’s initiative to limit public healthcare to foreign nationals without a legalised residence status. The Spanish Government proposed that irregular immigrants would only have access to emergency rooms and obstetrics services, but not to regular treatments and consultations. The Catalan Health Minister, Boi Ruiz, confirmed on Friday that in Catalonia, all foreign residents, independent of their legal status, would have free access to the public health system for “solidarity” principles but also “for public health reasons”. Besides the ethical issue, experts had warned about infectious diseases that could have increased because of having groups of people excluded from the health system.
Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan Government has formally rejected the Spanish Executive’s initiative to exclude from the public health system immigrants without legal residency and who do not contribute to the Social Security. The Catalan Health Minister, Boi Ruiz, has confirmed that in Catalonia, all foreign residents will have the same free access to the public healthcare system they have been having until the present moment totally guaranteed. This means that all foreign residents in Catalonia, independent of their legal status, will have access to the same services and treatments as any national citizen within the Catalan public health system. Ruiz stated that the decision has been taken because they believe in “solidarity” but also for “public health reasons”, as many specialists had warned of a potential increase in infectious diseases if a significant percentage of the population was excluded from regular healthcare. With this decision, Catalonia joins the Basque Country that a few days ago also stated it will not implement the measure drafted by the Spanish Government, supposed to save €500 million. Autonomous Community governments manage healthcare in Spain.
The Catalan Health Minister has confirmed the rejection to the Spanish Government’s decision, which is run by the Conservative People’s Party (PP), before the Catalan Parliament on Wednesday, answering a question from the Catalan Green Socialist Coalition (ICV-EUiA).
In addition, the Catalan Deputy Minister for Health, Roser Fernández, stated in a radio interview the same morning that the Catalan Government will “guarantee public healthcare and primary attention to all immigrants”, as it is “an unavoidable element”. Fernández explained that the Catalan Government, which is run by the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), would maintain their dialogue with the Spanish Health Ministry, hoping the decree will finally be transformed into a law proposal, and thus they will be able to introduce amendments. Fernández concluded that “at the moment [for the Catalan Government] the priority is universal coverage in the public health system and primary attention to every citizen coming to Catalonia”. She added that this issue is also “a problem of basic public health for the rest of the citizens of Catalonia”, mentioning the risks for general public health that would come with excluding a group of people from the healthcare system. However, she said that efforts must be directed to “rationalise all kinds of abusive use” of the public healthcare system.