Inclusive Healthcare: Improving Accessibility and Care for Disabled Patients

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Aysu Gurbanlı, an 18-year-old Azerbaijani medical student, born in Istanbul and currently based in Baku. She is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

Over 15% of the global population continue their lives with some forms of disability.That’s why most of the time they face some problems and various difficulties. Key barriers include: communicative, physical and systemic obstacles. So, these obstacles made them introverted, reducing adaptation and leading to poorer health outcomes among disabled individuals. You can say,“Which problems do you mean?” For this reason, I want to detail these difficulties:

Physical obstacles: Absence of ramps, elevators and appropriately designed entrances ,also inaccessible healthcare facilities for those living in remote areas, narrow doorways, some examination rooms that don’t accommodate wheelchairs or mobility aids etc.

Communicative obstacles: Absence of sign language interpreters for patients with hearing impairments. Limited availability of health information in accessible formats such as Braille print for people with visual impairments ,in addition the use of complex medical terminology isn’t available for patients with cognitive disabilities, lack of empathy.

Systemic obstacles: Lack of mandatory training on disability inclusion for healthcare professionals, poor coordination of care, financial barriers including inadequate insurance coverage and other costs.

In conclusion, all these problems cause delayed diagnosis, stress,social isolation, depression,health inequality etc.

All these problems find their solutions in inclusive healthcare. First of all, I want to answer this question “What is inclusive healthcare?” 

Inclusive healthcare is the provision of healthcare services that are responsive, effective,accessible, respectful of the diverse needs of all patients, not only disabled people. Inclusive healthcare has created, is creating and will continue to create solutions to these problems. Now I want to talk to you about the solutions that have been created for these problems and what solutions can be created in the future.

Solutions for physical obstacles:Implementation of universal design standards in newly constructed healthcare facilities,including step-free access, accessible toilets and comfortable, available examination. In the future developed automated medical equipment, assistive robots can be created for every disabled person.

Solutions for communitive obstacles: Teaching sign language and Braille print to healthcare workers,conducting training for creating empathy and communication with them.In the future artificial inteligence-based communication tools can be created. With these tools, the disabled people will join communications easily.

Solutions for systemic obstacles: Adoption of disability-inclusive healthcare policies aligned with international frameworks such as the UN Convention on the Rigths of Persons with Disabilities. Development of coordinated care pathways to reduce fragmentation of services. In the future increased investment in inclusive health system research and innovation.

Finally, I want to note that, inclusive healthcare isn’t only technical provision. It means recognizing their rights,equality in healthcare.When care is made with trust,respect,patients feel valuable,great and health outcomes improve.Also, ensuring accessibility is prioritized in every service. Because every patient deserves to be seen,heard and cared for. So the remaining question is: Will healthcare systems fully embrace accessibility as a core value or continue to leave it at the margins?

About the author

Aysu Gurbanlı is an 18-year-old Azerbaijani medical student, born in Istanbul and currently based in Baku. She is in her 2nd year at the Faculty of General Medicine (I MPF) of Azerbaijan Medical University (AMU). Since 2025, she has been an active member of AzerMDS SCOME (Standing Committee on Medical Education). Alongside her academic journey, she is dedicated to exploring the social and ethical aspects of medicine. In her free time, she enjoys playing board games and listening to music.