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STORY: GENEVA / HEALTH IN SYRIA
TRT: 2.21
SOURCE: CH UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 26 APRIL 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE – RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations
26 APRIL 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Med shot, journalists
3. SOUNDBITE (English), Adrian Edwards, UNHCR Spokesperson:
“For those refugees who live outside of camps, often in urban settings, the situation is more difficult. In Jordan and Iraq, healthcare costs for refugees are covered by governments, UNHCR, and many other organisations; but expensive referral care, such as renal dialysis, orthopaedic surgery, and cancer treatment is becoming much more difficult.”
4. Med shot, journalist
5. SOUNDBITE (English), Adrian Edwards, UNHCR Spokesperson:
“Firstly, and with low funding for the Syrian refugee crisis, the challenge of providing access to quality healthcare for Syrian refugees is growing, particularly for people living outside of camps. Secondly, the increasing numbers of people needing medical help is straining existing health services in each of the affected countries.”
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English), Adrian Edwards, UNHCR Spokesperson:
“Refugees need treatment for a wide range of both common and conflict-related conditions. These include injuries, psychological illnesses and communicable diseases often found in other refugee settings worldwide plus other costlier and longer term chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular illnesses as well as expensive referral care that is more commonly diagnosed and treated in middle income countries.”
8. Close up, journalist
9. SOUNDBITE (English), Paul Spiegel, Deputy Director, Division of Programme Support and Management, UNHCR:
“And therefore it requires us to put in systems to triage patients according to prognosis, and according to cost, and most importantly with the amount of money we have, to make sure that money helps the largest amount of people as we can. So it causes us to make- not just UNHCR but the governments- to make very difficult decisions, because we cannot deal with all cases and particularly, the costly cases.
10. Wide shot, journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English), Paul Spiegel, Deputy Director, Division of Programme Support and Management, UNHCR:
“Looking at cost, looking at consistent cost- in Renal Dialysis, you don’t pay for a month and then you stop, you pay for ever, and then very hard decisions are made, and many are not funded, and therefore they have to then find other funding, or in some cases yes, these people may die.”
12. Wide shot, press conference
The Syrian refugee crisis is increasingly straining health services in the surrounding countries, according to a study conducted by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
With more than one million Syrian refugees in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, health care services in these countries are finding it difficult to cope with the growing number of refugees seeking medical attention.
UNHCR says the problem has been compounded by the limited ability of aid agencies to provide adequate health care for the refugees due to limited funding.
Spokesperson Adrian Edwards said that “with low funding for the Syrian refugee crisis, the challenge of providing access to quality healthcare for Syrian refugees is growing, particularly for people living outside of camps” and “the increasing numbers of people needing medical help is straining existing health services in each of the affected countries.”
Briefing journalists in Geneva, Paul Spiegel, Deputy Director, Division of Programme Support and Management at UNHCR said “it requires us to put in systems to triage patients according to prognosis, and according to cost, and most importantly with the amount of money we have, to make sure that money helps the largest amount of people as we can.”.
He added that “very hard decisions are made” and “in some cases yes, these people may die.”
In Jordan and Iraq, health care costs for refugees are covered by governments, UNHCR and many other organizations, but providing expensive referral care – such as renal dialysis, orthopaedic surgery and cancer treatment – is becoming much more difficult. In Lebanon, which has a largely privatized health care system and cost sharing is the norm, resource shortages mean UNHCR and partner agencies are faced with having to reduce support for both primary and more costly referral health care.
The report says refugees with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases are not receiving adequate care and treatment, especially if they reside outside designated refugee camps.
