Therefore I thought you would be very interested to hear about this editorial and letter ( signed by 276 doctors) that the Lancet press released today that has already been picked up by several news sources including the BBC online. It really is a truly shocking situation and shows how the UK Government is letting down one of the most vulnerable groups in the UK: undocumented migrants. As the editorial points out, doctor leaders have been deafeningly silent on this issue and are not right out there publicly defemanding that undocumented migrants have access the healthcare and  treatment that they need. So perhaps it is up to medical students and their leaders, and organisations, such as the IFMSA, to show doctors’ leaders how it’s done and make a lot of noise about this issue themselves. I have copied the editorial and letter for you below, along the recent editorial (another one-published in the 22 Dec 2007 issue of The Lancet) that the letter refers to which shows how varied the situation is across Europe. C’mon folks. Let’s do something about this so that appalling situations, such as the outrageous case of Ama Sumani, where doctors have to watch their patients being forced off their lifesaving treatment and sent back to their original country to die, are NEVER repeated. Rhona

Lancet Editoral Migrant health: what are doctors’ leaders doing?
Last week, UK immigration officials removed a terminally ill Ghanaian woman from a hospital in Wales and escorted her back to Ghana, where she is unable to afford the treatment she needs to prolong her life. 39-year-old Ama Sumani came to the UK 5 years ago and was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in January, 2006. Until last week, she had been receiving dialysis at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. Sumani was in the UK on a student visa but was unable to enrol on the banking course she wanted to take because of her lack of English. She started working. Although her visa had expired by the time she was taken ill and she had contravened its conditions by seeking employment, her solicitor made representations for her to stay in the UK on compassionate grounds because she could not afford life-saving treatment in Ghana. But the Home Office rejected her appeals. As soon as her doctors deemed her fit to travel, immigration officials removed her from the country.

According to news reports, Sumani, now in Ghana, has been refused treatment at the main hospital in Accra because she has no source of funding.Sumani’s case has shocked many people in the UK. Her solicitor has been inundated with calls from members of the UK public offering money and even their bone marrow for a transplant. Ghana’s High Commissioner in London has appealed to Britain to reverse its decision.What about doctors’ leaders? Have they expressed their outrage? Have they called for compassionate treatment of Sumani? Unfortunately not. There has been a disappointing and deafening silence about the case from those who are supposed to represent doctors’ voices in the UK. Sumani is not the only migrant who has fallen seriously ill in the UK, begun treatment, and then been removed or deported to a country where treatment is unaffordable or inaccessible. Individual doctors who work with these patient groups have been campaigning on their behalf (see Online/Correspondence). To stop treating patients in the knowledge that they are being sent home to die is an unacceptable breach of the duties of any health professional. The UK has committed an atrocious barbarism. It is time for doctors’ leaders to say so-forcefully and uncompromisingly.  The Lancet

Lancet letter: Medical justice for undocumented migrants
Your Editorial, “Access to health care for undocumented migrants in Europe” (Dec 22, p 2070)1 is timely. The UK Government is imminently considering means to abolish the right of “failed” asylum seekers to primary health care through the National Health Service (NHS) in Britain. This would be dangerous and unethical. 276 doctors registered to practise in the UK have (so far) signed a petition opposing the policy. The substance of the petition appears below.

“This would impose serious health risks on [undocumented migrants] and on the general public. It would also interfere with our ability to carry out our duties as doctors. 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.

“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.

“We pledge that, in the event this regulation comes into effect, we will: (a) continue to see and examine asylum seekers and to advise them about their health needs, whatever their immigration status; (b) document their diagnoses and required clinical care; (c) with suitable anonymisation and consent, copy this documentation to the responsible ministers, [members of parliament] and the press; (d) inform the public of the human costs, to harness popular disgust at what is being ordered by the government in their name; (e) campaign to speedily reverse these ill-advised policies.”

*Frank Arnold, Iain Chalmers, Andrew Herxheimer, George Lewith, Stephen Kennedy, Peter Kandela, David Nicholl, Daniel Campion, Hugh Morton, Ram Natarajan, Ruairidh Milne, Elaine Chung, Kim A Jobst, Peter McCulloch, David Halpin, Charmian Goldwyn, Chess Denman, Edmund Hey, John Zajicek, Jamie Fulton, Phil Alderson, Hywel Williams, Ruth Gilbert, Michael Baum, and 250 others
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Lancet editorial: Access to health care for undocumented migrants in Europe
New immigrants are frequently blamed for all that is wrong in European society. Migrants are often perceived as threats to jobs, livelihoods, and cultural identities. There is little justification for such accusations. According to a recent report by the UK organisation, Migrants Rights Network, immigration can create social tensions but it also brings social and economic benefits. For example, in Europe, health services heavily rely on the considerable contributions of migrant health professionals.

There are an estimated 60 million migrants in the European region and 8 million undocumented migrants-often referred to as illegal migrants, as they have no legal status to live in a destination country. Undocumented migrants are one of the most vulnerable populations in Europe and often have poor health. They may live and work in countries for long periods of time yet their right to access health and social care is often severely restricted.

A recent report from the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants shows that access to health care throughout European countries is increasingly being used as a weapon in immigration control. Health coverage varies between countries, with Spain providing the widest coverage and Germany the least. Doctors and nurses usually uphold their ethical and professional duties and do not openly deny healthcare to anyone although they are often advised to check the immigration status of patients before treating them. Hospital administrators, often the first point of access, usually have no problem in turning undocumented migrants away. In the UK, controversial plans to bar undocumented migrants from accessing free healthcare, other than through emergency departments, have been delayed after reservations about the public health implications and concern among medical professionals.

The current stance of European countries makes a farce of the UN conventions that they have all ratified, which include guaranteeing the right to health care for undocumented migrants. All member states should detach healthcare from immigration control and take the necessary measures to ensure that access to health care for undocumented migrants is uniformly implemented by national and local authorities. The Lancet