Mobile medical practice for Ukrainian refugees rolls through Berlin
In Berlin there is now a doctor’s office on four wheels: A bus, equipped similarly to a doctor’s office, is intended to provide medical care to refugees from the Ukraine.
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Berlin.Providing medical support to people who have fled from the Ukraine and other countries with a mobile practice: Doctors of the World, medical students from the U-Aid association and medibushelps.org from Cisco and Deutsche Bahn have joined forces with this goal.
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The bus is equipped in a similar way to a doctor’s practice and will be going twice a week from June 8th to initial reception facilities and shared accommodation, as well as to other places in Berlin if necessary. The team, including volunteer doctors and medical students, treat and advise refugee patients free of charge and anonymously if desired. In addition to medical treatment, the employees provide initial orientation, information on health issues and support patients in gaining access to the regular health system. The bus is digitally networked and, if necessary, the team can switch on medically trained video interpreters for numerous languages.
“We are pleased that the cooperation project can now start and that we can help to meet the urgent need for medical care for refugees in Berlin,” says Susanne Eikenberg, Doctor of the World Project Officer.
Gaps in medical care
Medical care for people who fled Ukraine before the war is theoretically regulated – they receive residence status in accordance with Section 24 of the Residence Act and have been entitled to medical health services in accordance with SGB II and XII since June 1, 2022. You can apply for an electronic health card and a temporary license for treatment in a doctor’s office at the responsible social welfare office in the district. And thanks to an agreement between the Senate Department for Integration, Labor and Social Affairs and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Berlin, patients should be given unbureaucratic medical care even without an appointment at the social welfare office.
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In practice, however, there are gaps in medical care for a variety of reasons. The causes include overloading of the reception structures and offices, waiting times for appointments and issuing documents, a lack of information and orientation in the German legal and health system, general bottlenecks in the specialist medical care of women and children, and language barriers. In addition, the current additional burden on the health and asylum system means that refugees from other countries are less well looked after than before.
The project aims to help close the current bottlenecks in medical care. “It shows how great the desire and willingness among students and volunteers is to get involved,” says Roxana Esmaili from the U-Aid board.
The initiative “Charité for Refugee Women: Women for Women” also supports the project.
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