Hundreds of doctors in Spain vowed Tuesday to ignore a new law that requires them to deny treatment to illegal immigrants from September 1 as part of government deficit-reduction measures.
Under the controversial measure foreigners living in the country without residency permits will be denied treatment at public hospitals and health centres unless they are under 18, pregnant, or in case of an accident or other medical emergency.
Anger over the measure increased Tuesday after the government said it was working on a system that would allow illegal migrants who pay an annual fee to continue to receive care from the public health system.
“My loyalty to patients does not allow me to ignore my ethical and professional duty and abandon them,” said a manifesto signed by 870 doctors and posted online. By signing the manifesto the doctors also registered as “conscientious objectors” against the law in a database launched in July by the Society of Family and Community Medicine, which represents 19,500 doctors.
The new law “puts us in a situation where we have to stop treating people who were out patients, and that violates our deontological code,” the association said.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government wants to cut Spain’s public deficit to less than three per cent of gross domestic product in 2014 from 8.9 per cent last year, the third-largest deficit in the Eurozone that year.
It argues that restricting free health care to illegal immigrants and steps to curb “health tourism” by Europeans will save around one billion euros ($1.2 billion) per year. The health ministry said Tuesday it was working to create a system whereby non-Europeans in Spain could pay a fee to use the country’s public health system.
The ministry did not say how much they would have to pay, but earlier Tuesday daily newspaper El Pais reported that those under 65 would have to pay 710 euros ($880) per year.
Older people could be asked to pay up to 1,865 euros per year, it added. “This affects the most vulnerable people, those who don’t have any residency papers,” said Vladimir Paspuel, who heads Ruminahui, a Spanish-Ecuadoran association that offers social and legal assistance to immigrants.
“Many are not working or have very unsteady jobs. The little revenues that they have they use to survive.”
Ruminahui was not against the proposal that illegal immigrants pay to use the public health system but the amounts being discussed in the media are too high, Paspuel said.
“We also want to take part in efforts to get out of the crisis. But we need to arrive at a consensus so it does not affect the weakest people.”
Four of Spain’s 17 regional governments — which are responsible for providing health and education services — have announced that they will continue to provide free health care to illegal immigrants. All of the regions — Andalucia, Asturias, Catalonia and the Basque Country — are run by parties other than the conservative Popular Party, which rules at the national level.
The Socialist government of the Basque Country reiterated Tuesday its opposition to a health care system “based on cuts and restrictions”.
Asked about the controversy over the new law, the Popular Party’s spokesman in congress, Rafael Hernando, said: “What illegal immigrants should do is enter Spain legally.”
Spain “can no longer be a paradise for illegal immigration”, he added.
Madrid, Aug 7, 2012 (AFP)
