Evaluation of Health Care Services Delivered to Syrian Refugees in a Tertiary Pediatric Hospital Between 2013-2016

Abstract

Aim: Millions of Syrian had to abandon their country due to the civil war and took refuge in neighboring countries. This refugee crisis is affecting the countries that accept immigrants in terms of health care service, economical, political and social issues. We aim to evaluate, density of the Syrian refugees in outpatient and emergency services, inpatient services, specific interventions, and investigations ordered between 2013 and 2016. Material and Method: We tried to determine density of Syrian refugees among the patients who presented to the emergency department and outpatient clinics and the patients hospitalized in our hospital between 2013 and 2016. It was tried to determine the density of Syrian patients among the interventional procedures and specific investigations ordered in the pediatric sub-branches. Results: Approximately 13,538 Syrian refugees presented to our hospital for examination, investigations and treatment between 2013 and 2016. The number of Syrian refugees who presented to our hospital increased to 8,540 in 2016 from 265 in 2013. The rate of Syrian refugees involved in the hospital invoice raised to 6.63% in 2016 from 1.05% in 2013. Conclusions: The crisis in Syria affects neighboring countries in many issues. Countries like Turkey which accept a large number of refugees should rearrange their health policies considering refugees. Further multicenter studies are needed to determine the impact of this immigration on health care system.

Keywords

• refugee
• child
• health care service