VIEWS OF SYRIAN PHYSICIANS IN İSTANBUL ABOUT PROBLEMS WITH HEALTH CARE UTILISATION OF SYRIAN REFUGEES AND THEIR IDEAS FOR SOLUTIONS

Background: The conflict in Syria became a multiple party war which led to millions leaving their countries. Described as “the worst refugee crisis since World War 2”1, 4,718,230 people are registered or waiting for registration.2. Since 2011, more than 2,000,000 registered and approx. 500.000 unregistered refugees have arrived in Turkey. Even though, the Turkish government included registered refugees in the national insurance scheme, overwhelmed health resources, lack of translators and discrimination are some of the barriers the refugees have to struggle with when utilizing health care. Many of the chronic illnesses and complicated cases (amputations, cochlear implants, surgeries) are not being treated efficiently. Thus, NGO’s have organized self-help facilities functioning like informal “outpatient clinics” which are exclusively run by Syrian health workers and for the Syrian people. Although, physicians from abroad are legally not allowed to practice medicine in Turkey, these facilities have been tolerated by the administration since more than 2 years. Despite limited resources, many Syrian refugees apply to those facilities (e.g. >200 consultations /daily). Aim: This qualitative study aims to explore the views of Syrian Healthcare professionals working in these clinics about the refugee community face with access and utilization of healthcare. Methods: For this purpose, focus group sessions will be conducted with Syrian physicians, who work described facilities. Focus groups will be run with a semi structured question root until saturation is reached and Interviews will be transcribed ad verbatim. Thematic coding will be undertaken by 3 independent researchers. Results of the study will be presented in the conference.