Review of access to the NHS by foreign nationals
February 5, 2011 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
This consultation provides the public and others with the opportunity to comment on proposed changes to the charging Regulations for overseas visitors requiring hospital treatment, and the recovery of any charges, and also initial thinking around possible future introduction of health insurance for some visitors. This may also be of interest to UK nationals / residents.
Please follow link for further information:
Consultations on charging asylum seekers Healthcare fees published
March 20, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Failed asylum seekers denied NHS
March 30, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Failed asylum seekers cannot receive free treatment on the NHS, three judges have ruled at the Court of Appeal.
But hospitals can decide themselves whether to treat such individuals if they have no money, the judges said.
Lord Justice Ward said the patient must have resided lawfully in the UK for at least a year to receive free health service treatment.
The case was brought by a Palestinian asylum seeker, who is under investigation over his asylum claim.
Medical bill
The 35-year-old, identified as YA, claimed asylum in the UK in 2005, but was later refused leave to enter.
YA, who has a liver condition, says he fled his home in 2002 after becoming involved with Hamas and being asked to take part in a political assassination.
Despite claiming asylum in the UK, he was later refused leave to enter.
YA’s appeal against that decision was also refused by a judge, who said his primary motivation for coming to Britain was a desire to receive medical treatment and not because of a fear of Hamas.
He was admitted to hospital when his liver condition deteriorated, but was refused free treatment and given a bill for £9,000, which he is unable to pay.
Lord Justice Ward said: “Failed asylum seekers ought not to be here.
“They should never have come here in the first place and after their claims have finally been dismissed they are only here until arrangements can be made to secure their return.
“In some cases, like the unfortunate YA, that return may be a long way off. The result may be most unfortunate for those in ill-health like YA for they may now be at the mercy of the hospitals’ discretion whether to treat them or not.”
Guidance issues
YA took the case over his treatment to the High Court, where a judge declared that government guidance over treatment was unlawful so far as it advised NHS Trusts to charge failed asylum seekers.
The hospital concerned has now agreed to treat YA, but the issue went to the Court of Appeal to decide on the details of the government guidance.
The appeal judges ruled that hospitals do have the discretion to provide free treatment to penniless failed asylum seekers.
Lord Justice Ward said the government’s guidance for chargeable patients was to seek a deposit for the full cost of the treatment, but it offered no guidance on what happens when the deposit cannot be paid.
“No help is given in the case of those who cannot return home before the treatment does become necessary. What is to happen to the patient who cannot wait?” he said.
“My conclusion is that it is implicit in the guidance that there is a discretion to withhold treatment but there is also discretion to allow treatment to be given when there is no prospect of paying for it.”
‘Fear of bills’
Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “It cannot be right to deny vulnerable asylum seekers life-saving treatment simply because they are unable to pay for it, and we hope that this ruling will offer extra protection to those who are very sick and vulnerable.
“To refuse treatment to those people simply because they cannot pay for it is appalling and inhumane.”
Deborah Jack, chief executive of the National Aids Trust, said she was “very disappointed” by the appeal court’s decision.
“There are probably hundreds of thousands of people living in the UK who are unable to access affordable healthcare,” she said.
“This undermines social cohesion, increases avoidable illness and death, harms vulnerable children and older people, and contributes to the spread of infectious disease.
“In the short term, much stronger guidance on access to healthcare and debt write-off will be welcome.
“But the fear of bills will continue to deter many people from accessing the care they need, including people who are in fact entitled to free treatment.”
Story from BBC NEWS:
An anatomy of cholera
January 28, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Cholera is a waterborne disease that has surfaced in almost all parts of the world, and the mere mention of its name is often enough to induce panic in communities. IRIN answers frequently asked questions about the disease that has killed nearly 3,000 people in its latest large-scale outbreak in Zimbabwe since August 2008.
What is Cholera?
Vibrio cholerae is a rod-shaped bacterium. It has two major biotypes: classic and El Tor. El Tor is the biotype responsible for most of the cholera outbreaks reported from 1961 to the present.
 Photo: Tim McKulka/UNMIS  |
| Cholera at home in water |
Cholera is a diarrhoeal disease caused by infection of the intestine. In most cases, infection causes only mild diarrhoea or no symptoms at all. In 5 percent to 10 percent of cases, however, patients develop severe watery diarrhoea and vomiting from 6 hours to 5 days after exposure to the bacterium.
The initial symptoms of the disease are queasiness, nausea and abdominal gurgling, followed by acute diarrhoea. The loss of large amounts of fluids can rapidly lead to severe dehydration. In the absence of adequate treatment, death can occur within hours. Those who are malnourished or already have intestinal parasites can be at especially high risk of death.
How did cholera get its name?
The disease’s name was coined from the Greek word, Khole, meaning “flow of bile”. Cholera’s watery diarrhoea is often referred to as “rice-water” stool, as it contains flecks, which are mucus and epithelial cells. The diarrhoea causes victims to lose huge amounts of potassium ions, which can also lead to cardiac complications and circulatory failure.
Where did Cholera originate?
The first known cholera outbreak was recorded in the Indian sub-continent in 1817. Since then at least seven distinct cholera pandemics have been recorded, the first six from the Ganges Delta, viewed as the “ancestral home” of the disease.
How did cholera travel to other parts of the world?
It is thought that cholera was inadvertently transported from India to the shores of the colonial power, Britain, in the bilge water of English ships. The contaminated water was dumped on arrival at home ports, and the disease moved rapidly to Europe and then to Russia. Emigrants to the New World were thought to have taken the disease to the Americas.
In 1832 a cholera epidemic swept through New York, killing 3,515 of the city’s then population of 250,000.
In 1991 a Chinese registered freighter discharged bilge water into a Peruvian harbour, sparking a cholera pandemic that affected 322,562 people after a nearly 100-year hiatus of the disease in South America.
By 1994 there were more than 1 million cases recorded in South America.
In the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide in July 1994, cholera struck Goma’s refugee camps in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. There were about 70,000 cases and 12,000 deaths.
How is cholera spread?
A Ukrainian parliamentarian remarked during a 1994 outbreak of the disease in his country that “the spread of cholera and other infectious diseases is the calling card of an economy in trouble.”
The spread of cholera and other infectious diseases is the calling card of an economy in trouble
Cholera infects humans through the consumption of infected water or contaminated food. The consumption of raw or poorly cooked seafood, raw fruit and vegetables, and other foods contaminated during preparation or storage can lead to infection. Bacteria present in the faeces of those infected are the main source of contamination. The bacterium can also survive in brackish rivers and coastal waters. The disease spreads rapidly where sewage and drinking water supplies are inadequately treated.
When was the disease identified?
British doctor and epidemiology pioneer John Snow, and Robert Koch from Germany, the 1905 Nobel Prize recipient for Physiology or Medicine, are credited with unlocking the mysteries of cholera.
In 1831 England experienced its first cholera outbreak, where the disease was attributed to “miasma [pollutants] in the atmosphere”. Another outbreak occurred in 1854 and on 31 August the London district of Soho suffered what Snow was later to call “the most terrible outbreak of cholera which ever occurred in the kingdom.”
Within three days 127 people living close to Soho’s Broad Street succumbed to the disease; by 10 September 500 had died and nearly three-quarters of the residents had fled their homes.
Snow suspected cholera was a waterborne disease and zeroed in on the Broad Street pump which served the area. He convinced the authorities to close the pump down and immediately deaths in the area were rapidly reduced.
Can cholera be prevented?
Yes. People living in high-risk areas can protect themselves with good hygiene and safe food preparation, such as washing their hands before preparing food and eating, by thoroughly cooking food and eating it while it is hot, by boiling or treating drinking water, and using sanitary facilities.
The simple rule is: boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it.
What treatments are available?
The most important treatment is rehydration, which consists of prompt replacement of the water and salts lost through severe diarrhoea and vomiting. Early rehydration can save the lives of nearly all cholera patients. Most can be rehydrated quickly and easily by drinking large quantities of a solution of oral rehydration salts. Patients who become severely dehydrated may need to receive fluid intravenously.
Packets of oral rehydration salts are available from most city pharmacies and health care facilities. If you have diarrhoea – especially severe diarrhoea – and are in an area where there is cholera, seek treatment immediately from a physician or other trained health care provider. Begin drinking water and other non-sweetened fluids, such as soup, on the way to getting medical treatment. – IRIN
Sources: World health Organisation, MedicalEcology.org, University of California, Los Angeles Department of Epidemiology, International Public Health and Human Rights in the Developing World (A Case Study in Peru), Tropical infectious diseases, principals, pathogens and practice.
