Selected conditions of accessibility to health care services for asylum seekers and refugees in Poland against the indicated European initiatives

Abstract

Introduction. Increasing influx of migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, started in 2015, poses significant challenges to the health care system and broadly understood public health institutions. Migration is seen as the most important public health challenge for the WHO of the European Region and on a global scale. The right to health services is one of the basic human rights and as such it should be implemented regardless of the legal situation of the person's.
The aim of the study. The main purpose of the study is to demonstrate the regulatory, organisational, political and cultural conditions of providing health care services and their scope for asylum seekers and refugees in Poland after the migration crisis of 2015.
Selection of material. The study is based on the literature review and legal regulations analyse. The literature review is partially resulting from a review developed in 2016 within the EC project SH-CAPAC (“Supporting health coordination, assessments, planning, access to health care and capacity building in Member States under particular migratory pressure”, no 717175), with further findings for 2017-2019. Legal regulations include international and Polish laws.
Conclusions. Due to its geopolitical location Poland, being the transit country with specific approach to the refugees on the possible entry points, did not recorded the rapid increase in the number of immigrants seeking for international protection. Asylum seekers are granted access to health care services coordinated by a healthcare unit with had signed an agreement with the Office for Foreigners. Once the person receives the refugee status, his or her access to health services should be equivalent to that of the citizens of Poland. As the organisational and cultural conditions of providing health care for asylum seekers and refugees occur in the situation of limited number of asylum seekers and refugees the problem may become more significant in case of a rapid grow of number of involuntary immigrants.