Health of migrants : France must improve the support

Michel Spingler/AP/SIPA

Published the 17.10.2017 at 12: 45 pm

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From an ethical point of view, France can and must do better, for the reception and care of migrants. This is the finding developed by the national consultative ethics Committee (CCNE) in an opinion issued on Monday. Its editors believe that the structures of health care (in particular hospitals) are not organized to go out to migrants, that are, on the other hand, humanitarian organisations, without clear support from the State.

“Mostly, these people become invisible to not be renewed at the border and place it at the second level, their health problems in relation to their migratory project, which raises public health issues that are unresolved,” the report notes. However, the structures should just make sure to go to the migrants in order to better take care of it.

Anticipate

Today it is difficult to measure both the actual present and the flows of entry and exit of migrants, but everything seems to indicate, however, that their number does not exceed 0.5 % of the general population in France. “They do not constitute a threat, nor on the health care system, or our social organization “.

In addition, everyone should be aware that the geopolitical developments (climate, conflicts, etc) will amplify the migration phenomena, resulting in the need to anticipate, note the CCNE. “We can’t, in any case, admit that the lack of support for the basic sanitation of these men, these women and children (often isolated) is an instrument for the regulation of their flow “.

If the reception of migrants in reception centres and orientation (CAO) was, it seems, satisfactory, this step has been preceded or followed by conditions of existence prolonged during which “the observance of the most basic rules of hygiene was not sufficiently assured,” can it be read. Women and unaccompanied minors, in particular, were able to be put in danger. In such situations, the only initiatives have been too long led by the associations, national or local, and public officials individual. There is no harmonized policy of permanences d’accès aux soins de santé (PASS), which fulfill, in fact, very irregularly their legal obligations.

The hospital must play its role

These findings led the CCNE to outline a number of ethical requirements. “It belongs to the system of care (including the hospital) to know how to inspire confidence, and to apprehend the people who put the need to conceal prior medical treatment “, ordered it.

It should also make possible the “singular colloquium” between doctor and patient exchanges understandable, on the linguistic level, on the one hand, and on the cultural context, on the other hand. The health professionals must have the willingness to establish priorities in the actions to ensure the well-being of migrants , equal treatment in the access to care and in access to the physical well-being, mental and social.