Spain moots health care for illegal migrants

SPAIN’S new socialist government promised it would restore free health care for undocumented migrants, a right removed by the former administration as part of cost-cutting.

The move is the latest migrant- friendly initiative by the government of Pedro Sanchez, who offered this week to take in a rescue ship drifting in the Mediterranean with 629 migrants on board. Italy and Malta had refused it.

The government would draw up a draft law with the proposal which must be approved by parliament. Although the Socialists have a minority of 84 seats in the 350- member assembly, most parties back the proposal.

“Health care is a right and the protection of health is essential,” government spokesperson Isabel Celaa said.

Spain offers universal health care to citizens. The for- mer centre-right government of Mariano Rajoy withdrew the right to general health care for undocumented migrants in 2012 as part of a programme of spending cuts. It later reinstated some rights, like access to emergency healthcare, in 2015, but fell short of returning full coverage to an estimated 800 000 people residing in Spain without papers.

Spain got a tiny percentage of the total asylum claims in Europe and it accepted fewer than the EU average, the Spanish Commission for Refugees said. However, illegal migration is expected to rise this year, potentially turning it into a more pressing issue for Sanchez – Reuters/African News Agency (ANA)

Pedro Sanchez