Vancouver health-care workers to protest cuts to refugee care as part of “national day of action”

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      Health-care workers in Vancouver are holding a protest today (June 17) to decry federal cuts to refugee health care.

      The Vancouver protest will coincide with similar demonstrations across the country, as part of what organizers are calling a national day of action against changes to the Interim Federal Health Program.

      Vancouver group Sanctuary Health is helping to organize the local protest as part of the national day of action, which is being led by Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care.

      Sanctuary Health member Byron Cruz said health-care workers are “very concerned” about the cuts to the federal health-care program that took place last June.

      “As health-care workers now we have to spend lots of time trying to figure out what to do, because we have refugee claimants who have chronic conditions, we have refugee claimants who are pregnant, and not having access to health care is a big problem,” Cruz told the Straight by phone.

      “Now…health-care workers are spending a big percentage of their time trying to find out what the interim federal health covers, and basically it doesn’t cover that much. Most refugee claimants don’t have any access to primary care."

      Under the changes to the Interim Federal Health Program, certain groups of refugees continue to receive temporary expanded health-care coverage, including government-assisted refugees. Other groups, including most privately sponsored refugees, are granted health-care coverage for urgent or essential care, but no longer receive medication, dental, vision, or psychological counselling coverage.

      Certain groups of refugee claimants, including those from a “designated country of origin” (DCO), receive health-care coverage only to diagnose or treat a disease that poses a risk to public health.

      Cruz said midwives have been working with pregnant women from Mexico who are refugee claimants.

      “The delivery happens at home,” said Cruz. “Even when the hospital is so close, they cannot get access, and it’s a very scary situation sometimes.”

      Mexico is among the countries on the federal government’s DCO list. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the list is intended to deter abuse of the refugee system by claimants from countries that are considered "safe".

      The Vancouver protest will take place at noon in front of the regional Citizenship and Immigration office, located at 1148 Hornby Street. 

      Comments

      2 Comments

      blah

      Jun 18, 2013 at 7:56am

      Why should refugees have "dental, vision, or psychological services", when taxpayers don't have such services????? It's important to take care of people in need, but it's also important to treat everyone fairly, especially if taxpayers are paying for those services.

      Blah blah black sheep.

      Jun 18, 2013 at 4:11pm

      Yes you have to draw the line somewhere when making policy decisions. But you are ignoring the next paragraph: "Certain groups of refugee claimants, including those from a “designated country of origin” (DCO), receive health-care coverage only to diagnose or treat a disease that poses a risk to public health." That means if they are from a DCO country which is in my opinion arbitrary and unfair, then they will not be covered unless and only unless they pose a "risk to public health." I could go on and on about how this entire Bill and dialogue surrounding refugee claimants makes not medical, philosophical, or economic sense.