《Migration》Decision of Dutch Ministry of Health to abolish subsidies for translation and interpretation: One in five residents of the Netherlands was either born in another country, or has at least one parent who was. Historically, the Netherlands have set the pace in Europe when it comes to tackling language barriers in health care. Interpreter services and translated materials have been organised by the government since 1976 and provided free since 1983. Furthermore, the Law on Medical Treatment dating from 1995 places the onus on service providers to communicate "in language the patient can understand". However, in May 2011 the Dutch Minister of health informed the Lower House that all funding for interpretation and translation services in health care will be scrapped from the beginning of 2012 in order to . Not only is this in defiance of the law, it sets the clock in Holland back 28 years. Experts on health care for migrants and ethnic minorities in 20 different countries have now written to protest against this decision. Concern is expressed that the example set by the Netherlands will undermine efforts to promote health equity all over the world. Click the link to learn more about this issue.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 22:18:55 +0000
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