French Parliament Formally Authorizes Algerians To Benefit From Treatment In Paris Hospitals

French parliament agreed to pass a bill allowing Algerians to receive treatment in French hospitals, provided that the Social Security Fund is paid in advance, for 35% of the treatment entitlements each year.

The bill recommended that French consulates in Algeria should expedite the granting of visas for patients.

The French Assembly approved a bill allowing for the approval of the Additional Protocol to the General Agreement between France and Algeria on social protection that is related to medical care and treatment, which aimed at receiving Algerian patients in France. 

The text was signed on socially disadvantaged needy who are residing in Algeria by 51 MPs without registering any opposition, and it reads: “The reception of Algerian patients is allowed in French hospitals to receive programmed treatment within a unified administrative framework”.

It is known that the protocol of treatment between the Algerian and French governments was signed in April 2016, and stipulated the need for administrative settlement of the file of treatment of Algerians in French hospitals in order to avoid financial disputes.

The text ends the dispute that existed between France and Algeria, thanks to an agreement between the public aid “Paris hospitals” and the Algerian authorities under the supervision of the French and Algerian governments.

According to the State Secretary to the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, this project aims at maintaining the distinguished relationship between France and Algeria in the area of ​​social security and its modernization. 

He asserted the need to establish a “close” consultation system between the Algerian state and French hospitals “in order to avoid the accumulation of receivables and the status of conflicts as it happened in the past”, adding that the previous text was “not entirely appropriate” with the very limited field of application”.

The new protocol, which will be studied by the Senate confirms that the National Social Security Fund will grant the patient a license to be covered on the basis of an assessment that is prepared by a French institution. 

Under this provision, the National Fund for Social Insurance shall provide for the return of patients or their bodies to homeland and the prior treatment before their return.

Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the French Parliament  said that the National Fund for Social Insurance compensates the real expenses from the disclosure of costs and hospital reports that are sent by a French liaison, where compensation will be provided by the National Fund for Social Insurance in the period of three months on the basis of the calculation of a total of six months, in order to determine the differences between the two funds, and the Algerian Fund, according to the text of the project, must pay in advance 35% of the amount of dues that are calculated each year, and the bill recommends French consulates in Algeria to expedite the delivery of visas for patients who fall within the framework of the procedure.