Health Care for Refugees – Visit to the Health Care Center for Refugees (GZF)
On October 7, 2020, the GZF team reported on the challenges facing health care initiatives for refugees five years after Chancellor Angela Merkel's "We can do it", as well as on how the general conditions and legal situation have improved. Alumnus Dr. Norbert Mönter had invited to the event series "By alumni for alumni". Dr. Mönter was a physician in private practice for thirty years before he and his colleague Dietrich Koch founded the Health Center for Refugees in 2016 and is now its managing director.
After a brief tour of the GZF premises at the beginning of the event, all participants gathered in the building's conference room. They were welcomed by the team of the health center. While Dr. Mönter gave an introduction to the current political and legal developments regarding the possibilities of health care in Germany and especially in Berlin, Elif Alkan Härtwig (psychological psychotherapist), Roman Snihurowych (physician for psychiatry and psychotherapy), Prof. Dr. Dr. Daniel Ketteler (physician for psychiatry and psychotherapy), and Hans Peter Hoffmann (project collaborator) each reported from the practical perspective of their respective areas of responsibility. Although it is possible for refugees under the Asylum Seeker Benefits Act (AsylbLG) to visit a doctor in Germany on a regular basis, the associated organizational hurdles are usually so high that specialized institutions such as the GZF are needed. The GZF team reported how they organize interpreters, coordinate settlements with dozens of authorities, cooperate with representatives of various religious communities and, above all, how they treat those affected. Their goal is to create the best possible conditions for the refugees.
The Alumni Office would like to thank the GZF team for this important insight into the work of the Health Center and looks forward to upcoming events in the series "Von Alumni für Alumni".