‘We’re at breaking point’ Keep foreign aid cash for NHS pleads top cancer doctor

Meirion Thomas said cash-strapped NHS hospitals are
at “breaking point” treating thousands of overseas
patients who are not entitled to treatment and have no
intention of paying.
Mr Thomas, a respected former cancer surgeon at the
Royal Marsden Hospital in London, said health tourism
abuses included the treatment of cancer, HIV,
infertility and renal failure offered to patients arriving
from across the globe.
Many are here from countries already receiving
hundreds of millions of pounds in UK foreign aid.
The call for action comes as support floods in for our
Stop The Foreign Aid Madness crusade demanding the
Government reallocate some of the £13.3billion of
taxpayers’ money sent overseas to easing problems at
home.
We want to see our underfunded health service,
creaking social care system and elderly services
prioritised before money is sent out of the UK.
** SIGN THE DAILY EXPRESS PETITION **
Keep foreign aid cash for NHS pleads top cancer
doctor
My priority is to
make sure aid
money is spent
wisely – PRITI
PATEL
Billions in foreign
aid should be
redirected to ease
UK's care crisis
RELATED ARTICLES
Mr
Thomas, now a private consultant surgeon at The
Lister Hospital, west London, said: “I throw my weight
behind the Daily Express campaign to recover money
from foreign aid, which could be redirected to the
NHS.”
He said the health tourism scandal is rife in maternity
care, with millions spent on free treatment for
expectant foreign mothers.
Many suffer fertility treatment complications after
bungled care in their home countries.
In Britain, Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority rules mean in any one IVF cycle only two
embryos can be returned to the womb.
The law is in place to prevent problematic multiple
births.
UK Foreign Aid: Where did it
all go?
Mon, January 16, 2017
Public mood changes following scandals over how
the money is allocated. This is where the UK
Foreign Aid was being spent in 2015.
PLAY
India = £150.4m [Getty Images]
GETTY IMAGES 1 of 10
Mr Thomas said complications arise because clinics in
West Africa are in competition with each other to
implant more, leading to a flood of multiple
pregnancies which require specialist attention.
He added: “Perhaps the most significant problem is
maternity tourists who come here from West Africa, in
particular Nigeria, for free, specialist treatment. They
do not come here with simple problems. Multiple births
almost certainly need neo-natal intensive care
management.
“The burden would ease if we could either charge the
nation for the cost of treating these people out of its
foreign aid gift or make the Government change the
rules. Either way action needs to be taken because
the NHS is at breaking point.”
Nigeria, the largest economy in west Africa, received
£302.2million in UK foreign aid last year.
Thousands of Daily Express readers have backed our
crusade by sending in the coupon or signing our online
petition demanding billions of pounds in foreign aid be
used to alleviate serious problems at home.
Meirion Thomas said cash-strapped NHS hospitals are
at 'breaking point'
Conservative Party member Robert Barnes, 52, from
Oldham, spoke for millions when he said: “I am
supporting the Daily Express campaign because I
believe in the old adage: charity begins at home. “We
should be spending the money on our NHS, adult
social care and the elderly who have worked hard to
support our country.”
The strength of feeling will intensify pressure on the
Government to scrap a commitment that sees 0.7 per
cent of our national income sent abroad.
Health bosses say all maternity services, including
routine antenatal treatment, is considered
“immediately necessary” because during pregnancy
there is the potential for an untreated condition to
become life-threatening or cause permanent serious
damage to either the mother or the baby.
In one example cited by Mr Thomas, a Nigerian mother
named Priscilla, who received fertility treatment at
home, arrived in the UK to have quadruplets delivered
by Caesarean section, despite not qualifying for NHS
care.
Experts estimate that her medical bills, which included
months of intensive care for two babies in a neonatal
unit, cost the taxpayer £500,000.

Tweet