Doctors Rebel Over Plan to Deny Treatment to Failed Asylum-Seekers

Jan 16, 09:55 AM

Ministers face a doctors' rebellion over plans to deny failed asylum-seekers the right to free health care while they are in Britain.

In an unprecedented move, 275 GPs have said they will defy any new law by carrying on freely treating refugees, many of whom are torture victims, children and pregnant women.

Under proposals by the Department of Health and the Home Office, a refugee who has lost a claim for asylum will also lose the right to see an NHS doctor. Medical experts want the Government to withdraw the "foolish" plan, which they claim would pose health risks for asylum-seekers and the public. In a letter sent to The Independent and The Lancet medical journal, they warn: "It is not in keeping with the ethics of our profession to refuse to see any person who may be ill, particularly pregnant women with complications, sick children or men crippled by torture. No one would want such a doctor for their GP."

Failed asylum-seekers are already denied free secondary care on the NHS and are entitled to see a GP at their surgery only if the doctor agrees. Since 2004, the Government has been consulting on proposals to remove this discretion, so that failed asylum-seekers would be entitled to free NHS care only in cases of emergency. A final decision is expected within weeks.

The letter says: "We call on the Government to retreat from this foolish proposal, which would prevent doctors from investigating, prescribing for, or referring such patients on the NHS."

Dr Frank Arnold, of the Medical Justice Network which has organised a petition against the plan, said: "The Hippocratic oath makes no mention of discriminating against groups of people who are the target of public hate campaigns or whom governments find politically inconvenient.

"To tell doctors who they can and cannot see on this basis will have unpleasant effects on the practise of medicine. Do you want to be struck off your doctor's list because you are overweight or have a condition which might be expensive to treat?"

Yesterday, the Government refused to reconsider its decision to deport a terminally ill cancer victim whose visa had expired. Ama Sumani, 39, was sent back to Ghana from Cardiff last week but cannot afford kidney dialysis to prolong her life. The Lancet called the decision "barbarism", but Lin Homer, chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, told MPs that Ms Sumani's case did not stand out from others.

She said: "If we altered our consideration, there would be many thousands who could come and make similar claims. The coherent application of policy and careful consideration of individual issues by caseworkers and the independent judicial process is better and fairer than a decision by me as chief executive or by the minister."

But refugee groups also criticised the plan to restrict NHS care. Donna Covey, the head of the Refugee Council, said: "We have already seen the devastating effect that restrictions on access to secondary healthcare has had on people whose asylum claims have been turned down. Now the Government is considering stopping people from even seeing a doctor. The implications of this are quite frightening."

(c) 2008 Independent, The; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. Doctors Rebel Over Plan to Deny Treatment to Failed Asylum-Seekers
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