The institute, a public body, was created in 2007 and is overseen by the health ministry. "When I was health minister, we signed an agreement with the Lazio, Puglia and Sicily regions to create a center responsible for migrants' health and to create transcultural medicine," Senator Livia Turco, head of the INMP council told ANSA.

''This experiment proved effective,'' she added. From 2008 until April 2017, the clinic treated around 98,800 people.

The institute also provides healthcare in the Lampedusa and Trapani hotspots, where from April 2016 to February 2017 over 11,000 specialist exams and psychological sessions were held, along with a few thousand cultural mediations in Arabic, English, French, Tigrinya and Amharic.

Since 2014, INMP has offered assistance to about 12,000 migrants transiting through Rome. The institute also has a national epidemiological observatory on immigration and poverty (OENIP) and is the national reference center for cultural mediation in healthcare, with 28 transcultural mediators who speak 33 languages.

INMP carries out research activities within the national network of regional governments and local agencies, drawing up guidelines on the protection of migrant health and that of other disadvantaged sections of the population. The institute also has a mental health unit with psychiatrists, psychologists, cultural mediators, anthropologists and social workers.

In 2016, the unit had 1,104 patients in its care and carried out a total of 3,790 examinations. 91 percent of the patients were foreigners and 32.7 percent were women. 

''Migration is not linked only to landings on our shores, it is a structural issue,'' Concetta Mirisola, INMP's director, told ANSA. ''It is important to be able to have access to treatment easily, for Italians as well as migrants.''

The institute also offers ''legal services and support to victims of violence, asylum seekers and the homeless. The ability to meet patients' needs is what makes the difference,'' she said.