The deputies examine the draft law relating to the rights of foreigners, which provides in particular for the rewriting of the article on the residence permit for medical reasons.
At the National Assembly, the deputies are working on the draft law on foreigners’ rights and its article 10, which governs the right to stay for treatment of sick expatriates living on French territory. It plans to relax the conditions for issuing this residence permit, and to return to the definition prior to 2011, the date on which this right was restricted.
Effective care against theoretical right
Before 2011, in fact, a foreigner residing for a year on French territory could obtain a residence permit for medical reasons when he did not have “effective” access to healthcare in his country of origin. Thus, patients with HIV, hepatitis or cancer could reside in France and benefit from treatment if the health system in their country of origin was not able to guarantee them this necessary care. Every year, 6,000 new people benefit from this title and 20,000 renewals are issued, figures that have remained stable over the years.
But with the Besson law of June 16, 2011, the conditions for issuing this residence permit have been modified. The criterion is no longer “effective” access to care, but the very existence of the treatment in the country of origin. A revision of the law which made jump the associations of defense of the rights of foreigners. “It suffices for the molecule to be available in a private hospital in the country of origin for it to be considered that the person will be able to seek treatment there,” laments Lise Faron, head of the migrants’ commission of the Cimade. Which, of course, is not at all the case, as long as the patient lives in a village or does not have medical coverage ”.
Lise Faron, head of the Cimade migrants commission: ” We have recently seen deportations of HIV-positive people to countries where they clearly will not have access to health care. “
A threatened balance?
Article 10 of the bill therefore provides for a return to the “effective”, and no longer theoretical, nature of access to law in the country of origin. The text was inspired by the recommendations of IGAS (Inspectorate General of Social Affairs), which produced a report on admission to stays of sick foreigners.
However, another provision alarms associations. Until now, the medical assessment possibly giving rise to the residence permit has been carried out by doctors from the ARS (Regional Health Agencies). However, the Ministry of the Interior would like this assessment to be carried out from now on by doctors from the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII), attached to Place Beauvau.
“This completely contravenes the initial spirit of the procedure, which entrusted the medical evaluation to the doctors and the administrative evaluation to the prefectures,” explains Nicolas Klausser, member of the Aides association which carried out an Observatory for foreign patients. The first are under the supervision of the Ministry of Health, the second, of the Interior. It is a balance that must absolutely be preserved ”. The association proposed an amendment to retain the role of the ARS in this procedure.
Nicolas Klausser, member of the Aides association: ” The Ministry of the Interior tries to reassure associations by explaining that Ofii doctors are independent … “
The associations are all the more worried as, in practice, certain prefects seem to have recently been detached from the favorable opinions issued by the ARS. “It happens more and more often that they counter-argue medically, while they have no jurisdiction on the issue, denounces Lise Faron. They explain having consulted the doctor attached to a certain embassy, who says that all the treatments are available in their country… ”.
However, according to the Aides association, the vast majority of decisions are annulled by the courts, “for lack of sufficiently precise documents from the prefectures”, specifies Nicolas Klausser. An amendment to Article 10 has been tabled, so that the prefects are required to comply with the medical opinion of the ARS. It will be reviewed in the next few hours.
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