NHS -
Fiddling Foreigners
By Keith Gladdis
& Lee Harpin
Foreigners
flocking to Britain to fiddle free healthcare are
defrauding the NHS out of more than £2BILLION a
year. And while hordes of "health
tourists" cynically con their way to hugely
expensive treatment, law-abiding Brits endure
National Insurance hikes and ever-increasing
hospital waiting lists. 100,000 foreigners turn
up at emergency wards each year claiming to have
"suddenly" fallen ill. But many have
long-term diseases like kidney failure and others
even need organ transplants. Some receive
treatment costing more than £50,000. Thousands
of heavily pregnant women arrive here
specifically to exploit our system.
Some inner city maternity wards complain that
HALF their patients are from abroad. Most get
care worth over £1,500. And at least 6,000 HIV
sufferers are coming into the UK annually,
according to the Institute Of Hepatology, each
taking treatment costing £15,000 a year. Some
AIDS clinics reveal that up to 80 PER CENT of
patients have lived in the UK for less than a
year. The potential bill is £900 million and
rising. Last year immigration overtook gay sex as
our biggest source of HIV infection. Hospitals
should charge pat-ients not eligible for NHS
care.
But the vast majority skip the country without
paying a penny. And the crisis is made worse by
the increase in asylum seekers and people on work
visas ENTITLED to free treatment. An incredible
95 per cent of hepatitis B cases reported here
are actually contracted outside Britain, each
costs us £10,000 a year. And 40 per cent of
London's acute psychiatric beds are taken up by
foreigners. Australian backpackers doing Europe
head to Britain first where they immediately use
their visas to register with a GP and get free
travel jabs and tablets, saving £300.
And, as figures collated by the Conservative
Party put that £2billion price tag on the
medical freeloading scandal, health chiefs warn
that overstretched hospitals simply cannot cope.
Dr Anne Edwards, a consultant at the Oxford
Radcliffe Hospital, said, "We're in crisis.
Not only do we not have enough money for our own
population but we're having to treat lots of
people from other countries. We're shelling out
huge amounts of money. A lot of people are
resentful." Richard Rawlins, consultant
orthopaedic surgeon at Bedford Hospital, said,
"One solution could be the introduction of
entitlement cards. The alternative is total
anarchy, where the British NHS becomes
responsible for medical care of three-quarters of
the world's population."
GPs are considered the "gatekeepers" of
the NHS because any non-emergency patient wanting
hospital treatment must be referred by them. GPs
in one London health trust were recently advised
NOT to seek proof of entitlement, for fear of
discriminating against refugees and asylum
seekers. GPs face legal action if they attempt to
strike off suspected cheats. Manchester doctor
Ian Burton tried to remove an Iranian family who
registered a growing number of relatives and
visitors at their address. He was threatened with
the Commission for Racial Equality.
"Our own defence organisation said that if
it went to court we'd have lots of bad
publicity," he said. "From that point
we've not policed anything." But Ronald
Langstaff, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at a
busy west London hospital, insisted, "This
isn't a racial issue, it's a resources and
entitlement issue." He knew one case where a
foreign woman turned up at casualty demanding
dialysis. He said, "When told she wasn't
entitled she turned round and said if they didn't
treat her she'd apply for asylum and get it free
anyway! That is blatant abuse."
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