Valencia regional president defies ban on healthcare for undocumented migrants
Friday, November 6, 2015 @ 7:07 PM
VALENCIA'S regional government has defied the Constitutional Court and president Mariano Rajoy's cabinet and refused to stop providing healthcare to foreigners without residence permits.
Regional president of Valencia Ximo Puig (socialists, or PSOE) announced as soon as he took up office along with his coalition partner Mònica Oltra (Compromís) that the national government's ban on free public healthcare for undocumented migrants would immediately be lifted.
He has started returning healthcare entitlement registration cards – known as SIP cards – to all foreign nationals who had theirs confiscated after the ban was launched in September 2012.
The majority of regional governments, except those run by Rajoy's party – the PP – protested against the withdrawal of healthcare for migrants without papers, saying it was 'inhumane' and would cause avoidable deaths, agony, and dangers to the health of the rest of the public.
Navarra and the Basque Country have already refused to deny medical attention to foreigners who do not have an up-to-date residence permit and Rajoy's government filed legal action against both, which they have appealed.
Whilst waiting for the Constitutional Court – the highest in the land and whose purpose is interpreting and applying the Magna Carta in the event of dispute or ambiguity – to decide on their appeal, Navarra and the Basque Country were legally allowed to carry on providing healthcare to everyone irrespective of status.
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