Migrants’ access to healthcare services: evidence from fieldwork in Turkey

Abstract

This study builds on an analytical framework of access to healthcare and, using notes from interviews conducted with 110 migrants of different categories, it discusses the fit between migrant patients and Turkish health services. There is an overall mediocre fit between migrant patients and the Turkish healthcare system, which varies for different migrant groups, and is influenced by the dimensions of awareness, availability, affordability, and accommodation. Migrants’ social capital and socio-economic statuses affect the degree of fit, while irregularities in their legal statuses do not necessarily create a misfit. The existence of many private healthcare institutions offering various services to patients with different incomes and operating in informal ways has improved accessibility, availability, affordability, and accommodation and thus affects the fit positively. Therefore, the health reforms that paved the way for privatization, marketization, and commodification of health services in Turkey in the early 2000s also help explain the degree of fit. Migrants suffer most from language barriers in the health system, and there is an alarming decline in acceptability especially for Syrian refugees, who have reported facing discrimination while seeking healthcare.