Chair of the CPME Working Group on Refugee Health: Dr Marily PASSAKIOTOU (GR)
CPME Secretariat: Ms Sarada DAS
CPME’s policies on ‘refugees’ use the term as referring to all forcibly displaced persons regardless of legal status or reason for displacement. This includes migrants who have been granted legal status as refugee or asylum seeker and undocumented migrants. CPME’s policies focus on refugees’ rights and needs relating to health. They are based on the principle that doctors must provide appropriate healthcare to every patient, regardless of ethnicity, background, legal status or other factors. Medical ethics and patient-doctor confidentiality must be upheld. It is also vital to pay special attention and find appropriate responses to refugees’ specific vulnerabilities, e.g. relating to mental health. CPME also discusses the situation of doctors with a refugee background and approaches to integrating them into the medical workforce.
Adopted policies include
- CPME Statement concerning the Integration of Refugee Doctors into the European Workforce, adopted in November 2018
- CPME Statement on the Medical Treatment of Refugees, adopted in November 2016
- European Declaration of Health Professionals- Towards non-discriminatory access to health care, adopted in February 2010
- Access to health care for undocumented migrants: a CPME position paper” – Accès aux soins de santé pour les immigrés illégaux: texte d’opinion du CPME (CPME 2008/109 Final EN/Fr), adopted in June 2008
- Statement concerning the integrating refugee doctors into the European workforce: the way forward – Déclaration concernant l’intégration des médecins réfugiés dans la main d’oeuvre européenne: la voie de l’avenir (CPME 2003/029 Final EN/FR), adopted in March 2003
- Integrating refugee doctors into the European workforce : a suggested framework (CPME 2001/105 Final EN/fr) – Intégration des médecins réfugiés dans la main d’œuvre européenne : une proposition de cadre (CPME 2001/105 Final FR/en), adopted in March 2002
