Assistència Sanitària provides health cover for refugee university students

Some of the refugee students, with those responsible for the host program

18 students, mainly of Syrian origin although they also include Palestinians and Pakistanis, arrived in Catalonia in early October from Lebanon as members of a programme to host refugee students at Catalan universities. The initiative involves Assistència Sanitària as a result of an agreement signed with the Department of Migration, Equality and Citizenship of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia.

The issuance of a student visa is dependent on having health cover during their stay, which is handled by Assistència Sanitària. This means that the organisation provides mandatory medical care for these young people, who will continue at Catalan universities the studies they had to give up because of armed conflict In the words of Assistència Sanitària President Dr Ignacio Orce, “we want to make it possible to host these people, and as a continuation of our bursary programme, to extend to university students from war-torn countries the spirit of continuous improvement and promotion of knowledge which characterises us as doctors”.

The hosting programme was made possible by the collaboration of the Department of Enterprise and Knowledge, the UN’s refugee agencies (UNHCR and UNRWA) and Assistència Sanitària, along with support and funding from the Department of Employment, Social Affairs and Families. The participants, aged between 18 and 31, have registered at Catalan universities in order to be able to continue studies that were cut short by war. To optimise the results of the initiative, areas of knowledge that could help contribute to the rebuilding of their countries of origin have been selected, such as architecture, biology, languages and other qualifications.