Health care provision to refugees from the Balkans in private end hospital practice in Switzerland.

Atención en salud a refugiados de los Balcanes en el servicio hospitalario y en la practica privada en Suiza

Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing from war in former Yugoslavia have asked for political asylum in Switzerland since 1992. Others still currently join our country for more social and economic reasons. Many of them, especially those who arrived before the end of 1995, display often-severe somatic and/or mental health problems. According to the Swiss legislation asylum seekers are granted the same access to the basic health services as the resident population, although problems of translation and cultural mediation may hamper the quality of the care provided to the migrant population. The morbidity is mainly constituted of somatizations and severe psychological disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorders. Treating victims of war in exile raises specific problems and needs appropriate training. Not surprisingly the use of health services by refugees exceeds that of the resident population by 40%. Several factors contribute to that situation, some of which will be addressed in this topic.