'Maternity Tourists' Using NHS For Free Care

[Jazzy]

Hundreds of "maternity tourists" are flying to Britain just days before they give birth to receive free care on the NHS.

On the eve of a Government crackdown on "health tourism", it has been revealed that women are cheating their way into Britain for free birth care.

According to a Government report, immigration officials at Gatwick Airport stopped more than 300 such mothers-to-be over two years.

Most of the women had to be admitted and allowed to give birth on the NHS, the report found, because their pregnancies were too advanced for them to fly home.

Airlines typically do not carry women more than 36 weeks pregnant. However, the women boarded flights in their home countries with a forged doctor's note concealing the length of their pregnancy.

The problem has become so acute that staff at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, in London, refer to the flow of West African women flying in to give birth as the "Lagos Shuttle", The Sunday Telegraph reported.

The Government says health tourism costs the NHS as much as £80m a year - enough to pay for about 2,000 nurses. However, the true figure may be far higher.

Guy's and St Thomas' alone may be losing more than £5m a year.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We have a National Health Service, not an international health service, and we must stamp out abuse of the system."

Source

Unbelievable how people figure out how to 'beat the system' and get free care. Going to very difficult to try and stop this abuse.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Well having a baby shouldn't mean being in debt for a very long long time. All countries should offer affordable or free health care so desperate and poor people won't be forced to do things like this.

 

[DrLeftover]

Tell the Brits: "Welcome to our world" from the USA.

"A large share of the welfare used by immigrant households with children is received on behalf of their U.S.-born children, who are American citizens."

The numbers are in the report:
http://cis.org/immigrant-welfare-use-2011

and for more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/04/steve-king-anchor-babies_n_2411989.html