The Refugee Proclamation recognizes refugees’ access to health care. Under Article 25, it provides that ‘every recognized refugee and asylum seeker shall have access to available health services in Ethiopia’. Refugees’ and asylum-seekers’ access to health care services in Ethiopia is not subject to any condition in the sense that the standard of treatment is not the most favored foreigners. Instead, refugees are accorded the same rights as Ethiopian citizens for purpose of access to health care services.

Secondary Health Care is generally provided to refugees in zonal and regional hospitals, while Tertiary Health Care is generally provided in Addis Ababa. In-patient and out-patient care should be provided in public hospitals and in a select number of private health facilities. Select specialists will be sent to the camps to provide on-site health care to enhance objective decision making, treatment and capacity building at field level and hence reduce the number of referrals to secondary and tertiary health care facilities. Cases which are serious and need serious treatment are either referred to regional referral hospitals or, in more serious cases to medical facilities in Addis Ababa for advanced treatment. 

RRS has entered into agreements with different hospitals in the country to ensure the provision of medical treatment to refugees. Here, it is worth stating that refugees’ access to secondary health services, both as a matter of fact and law, is limited to services available within the country and may not be claimed for treatment abroad. 

In practice, UNHCR, in collaboration with RRS and other partners, facilitates access to primary, emergency secondary and tertiary healthcare services for refugees and asylum-seekers. While primary health services are mostly provided in health facilities within the refugee camps and settlements, patients requiring advanced medical attention are referred to regional or federal health facilities.