Emergency ambulance services for community based asylum seekers with no capacity to pay are free in Victoria.
Asylum seekers on bands 4-6 of the Status Resolution Support Service
Verified asylum seekers who are on bands 4-6 of the Commonwealth Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) are included in Ambulance Victoria’s concession arrangements, meaning that they receive free emergency ambulance transport. There are currently 10 support agencies who deliver the SRSS in Victoria and five other nominated programs that deliver services to asylum seekers for these particular clients and who can verify a person’s situation. Where a patient under the SRSS is verified by one of the listed agencies as unable to pay, this information can then be provided to Ambulance Victoria and the fee for ambulance transport will be waived. The support agencies include:
- Australian Red Cross
- Adult Migrant English Service
- Life without barriers (trading as National Immigration Support Services)
- New Hope Foundation
- Spectrum MRC
- Springvale Community Aid and Advice Bureau
- Diversitat Geelong
- Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic communities council (Mildura)
- Mallee Family Care (Swan Hill)
- Kildonan Uniting Care (Shepparton)
Asylum seekers in the community who are not on Commonwealth SRSS and who have no capacity to pay
Asylum seekers living in Victoria who are not supported by the Commonwealth SRSS and who have no capacity to pay, have free access to ambulance services for emergency transport only. Cases need to be approved and/or verified by one of the following nominated agencies. Ambulance Victoria then provides a waiver for the emergency ambulance transport for that client.
- Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
- Australian Red Cross
- Baptcare Sanctuary
- Brigidine Asylum Seeker project
- Hotham Mission-Asylum Seeker Project
- Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (Foundation House)
Asylum seekers in community detention and detention centres
Charges for asylum seekers in the Community Detention Program or for people in a detention centre (SRSS bands 1-3) will be directed to the International Health and Medical Service (IHMS) funded by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) for full fee reimbursement.
Further information on asylum seeker health can be found at the Diversity in Health.
Source and further reading:
- http://www.health.vic.gov.au/ambulance/guidelines/transport-information.htm
- http://www.health.vic.gov.au/ambulance/guidelines/
