goes from bad to worse
Aids-infected asylum seekers overwhelm UK hospitals
Telegraph - uk | Sunday June 15 2003 | Francis Elliott, Daniel Foggo and Thair Shaikh
[British] Hospital consultants revealed today that the "National Health Service" is being overwhelmed by hundreds of AIDS sufferers from abroad, who account for up to two thirds of all new HIV patients in Britain.
Doctors across the country said that they felt compelled to speak out because their departments were at crisis point.
The cost of treating infected foreigners - every one costing about USD$25.000.00 a year - is putting hospitals into debt and threatening to halt routine operations for other patients, they said.
The consultants said that the surge in "people arriving with HIV" accounted for most of the recent rise in infection rates, and reported that there was evidence that they were infecting Britons by engaging in "unsafe sex."
A House of Commons Health Select Committee Report last week estimated that the figures for new HIV cases last year would more than double at 6,500. It also revealed that the rates of infection for other sexually transmitted diseases had spiralled out of control, with cases of syphilis up 500 per cent in six years.
Dr Tim Moss, the clinical director and consultant genito-urinary physician at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, told The Telegraph that politicians underestimated the problem and the huge resources needed to treat [The invasion by] "HIV patients" from sub-Saharan African countries, the Far East and India.
"The situation has reached a crisis which requires central intervention," he said. "We are at saturation point. We literally cannot accommodate any more people.
"In the past three months we have had 10 new cases of HIV in Doncaster, six of which have been migrants. For a small town in the north of England, we are getting as many new HIV cases in three months as we would expect to get in two to three years."
Dr Anne Edwards, a consultant in genito-urinary medicine with the Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust, said: "Two years ago the number of cases we were dealing with was in single figures. In the last year it has gone up to about 30, of whom approximately 25 are from outside Britain.
"The situation is the same throughout the country. Two thirds of our new HIV patients are from abroad. We're in a crisis.
"We are now seeing a rise in local infection, which suggests that patients recently arrived in the country are "having unsafe sex." We are seeing some other-than-homosexual spread."
Dr Edwards said that some of her HIV patients were "nurses brought over" to work in the NHS "from countries with AIDS problems."
"Our trust is in an enormous financial hole of around USD$35,000,000.00. Not only do we not have enough money for our own population but we are having to treat lots of people from other countries. We are shelling out huge amounts of money. A lot of people are feeling pretty resentful. Health care workers feel that some of the time we are being taken for a ride.
"The Government needs to come up with a system which rules on people's eligibility."
"Human rights" legislation means that HIV positive "visitors to Britain from third world countries" are "entitled" to stay indefinitely while they "receive British-taxpayer-funded care." The cost could ultimately reach USD$1,670,000.00 per AIDS refugee over a lifetime. The Home Office's stipulation is that they will be treated if there is no medical care for their condition available in their own countries.
Dr Edwards added: "If you look at all the people coming here for NHS treatment who are not eligible there are likely to be important repercussions, like the fact that your Grandma does not get her hip replacement. [Or her vital-to-her-life cancer operation] The [Taxpayer-looted] "pot of money" is finite.
"The UK is known to be soft. It is known that if you get to the UK you can present yourself for check-up and testing."
The experience of Dr Edwards is mirrored elsewhere. Figures released by the Royal Leicester Infirmary show that it has 241 HIV positive patients, a rise of 61 per cent on pre-2000 levels. More than half the men, and almost 80 per cent of the women [Are third-world invaders who] "have been resident in Britain" for less than a year.
More than half of them are "claiming asylum."
As a response to the growing problem, the Government has decided to implement compulsory screening of all foreigners coming into Britain from countries where HIV and AIDS are rife.
The Telegraph has learned that one of Alan Milburn's last meetings as Health Secretary last week was with David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, to discuss the screening of migrants for infectious diseases.
A senior Whitehall official said: "We have moved from considering whether to introduce screening to what form it should take. We are drawing up a list of high-risk countries." [Translation: "We'll put a bureaucratic finger in the dyke" -- BA]
Trevor Phillips, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality, said: "Every patient should be treated equally. I can't imagine any British doctor would suggest his patients should be treated differently based on their origin." [True. As in America, it's not a "medical problem," it's a National Security issue]
"If there are budget constraints then a case needs to be made for more resources." [Try patroling the bloody borders and deporting all criminal aliens! -- That'll work!]
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