NSW Health has advised that people from Ukraine who arrived in Australia on or after 1 December 2021 are eligible to access public hospital services free of charge under the NSW Health policy for asylum seekers without Medicare.
About 2,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Australia since the war started in Ukraine. This trend is likely to continue, and may increase in future as refugee status is awarded to those who have fled.
Most will have arrived on Temporary Humanitarian Visas or visitor visas and initially will not have access to Medicare. This will likely be temporary, as most will eventually transition to a protection visa (subclass 786) which allows access to Medicare.
Being Medicare ineligible severely limits access to GPs. Some of this gap will be filled by the NSW Refugee Health Service’s GP clinics in Sydney. Other refugees may access private GPs, who can potentially be funded by Settlement Services International (SSI) on request; some GPs may choose to provide pro-bono care.
Other key points:
- COVID vaccination rates are likely to be very low. Offers of opportunistic education and vaccination would be beneficial.
- Evacuees are likely to require Ukrainian interpreters when accessing services and care. While many will speak Russian, the patient should be explicitly asked whether a Russian-speaking interpreter is acceptable.
Key contacts:
- NSW Refugee Health Service | 9794 0770 | SWSLHD-RefugeeHealth@health.nsw.gov.au
- Settlement Services International | 9685 0100 | Ukrainian.support@ssi.org.au
- STARTTS | 9794 1900 | stts-startts@health.nsw.gov.au
To find more information on the health services available to Ukrainians, please download this factsheet.