{UAH} A Nigerian health tourist who cost the NHS £145,000

Comrade Akim Odong,

Look at this case regarding "health tourism" in the UK. The UK
probably is the only country in the world where wealthy people who can
get visas and can go and recieve free health care.The British NHS,
apart from Cuba's, is probably the only free health service left in
the world. Together with the welfare state, The NHS is the best legacy
that the Labour Party left for humanity, probably its biggest success
in more than almost 70 years existence.

"By law, only patients who usually live in the UK are entitled to free
hospital care. But the NHS is legally obliged to provide care to
anyone if their life is at risk or treatment is considered
'immediately necessary' – and they have to claw the costs back later.
GP appointments are also provided free for everyone. A&E and maternity
care are always considered immediately necessary.This means patients
from overseas who are heavily pregnant women or needing kidney
dialysis will often target the NHS."

Within the NHS, the medics will usually give free treatment to anyone
who turns up at their doors and needs treatment. Although the law now
insists they must take identification details and charge foreigners,
most of whom are visitors, the hospital bureaucracy hardly ever
bothers about this, meaning that almost all foreigners can get free
medical care. This has made it very vulnerable to abuse, especially
from wealthy people from countries like Nigeria. If you have a sick
relative in need of a very expensive treatment, say for kidney
dialysis, or cancer, all you need is a visitor's visa to the UK, and
you will get free treatment. Compare this to the USA in the second
story below. The USA is the worst country in the world to fall sick if
you are a foreigner and dont have medical insurance. You will actually
die on the streets.

The conservatives are now trying to break the ethos of the NHS, to
introduce fee paying as well as to bar all "health tourism". There is
legislation already in place to force hospitals and GPs to demand all
patients, whether UK citizens or not, to produce all identification or
immigration documents prior to recieving any treatment. It will become
a criminal offence for a hospital or GP to offer treatment to a
patient without proper verification of his/her elgibility status.
About 5 years ago, "passport tourism" was very rife, especially among
Nigerians. The law at the time allowed any child born in the UK to
automatically claim British citizenship. Thousands of Nigerian parents
wanted their children to have a British passport, so a huge lucrative
business developed, of Nigerians settled in the UK "selling
invitations" to pregnant women in Nigeria to come to the UK for a
week or so to give birth, register the child, and then immediately
return to Nigeria. Families who never had any relatives in the UK to
"invite" them so that they could get a visa were sometimes prepared to
pay as much as £10,000 to crooks in the UK. Since then, automatic
qualification for citizenship by birth has been abolished, but I think
it still exists in the USA.

George Okello


A Nigerian health tourist who cost the NHS £145,000 having quintuplets
has said she never even saw a bill.
Bimbo Ayelabola, 37, had to have a complex caesarean section after
travelling to Britain while pregnant in 2011.
The operation and neo-natal care for the five babies cost the Health
Service in excess of £145,000 – but Miss Ayelabola never paid a penny
towards the bill.
Costly delivery: Bimbo Ayelabola with the quintuplets - three
identical girls and two boys - in London in 2011 after she had a
complex caesarean section
And now it has emerged the hospital involved will not chase her for the money.
Miss Ayelabola has since returned to her home city of Lagos, where she
is a successful make-up artist who drives a £17,000 car.
When confronted by the Daily Mail about the NHS bill, she said: 'I
have never received my bill. If I had it, I would pay it.'
The hospital involved yesterday admitted it sent only one request for
payment, more than six months after Miss Ayelabola left the hospital –
and had failed to take any further action when it was returned unpaid.
Homerton Hospital said it would not be pursuing Miss Ayelabola for the
money, even after the Daily Mail offered to pass on her address.
The case follows a series of revelations by the Mail on the true scale
of health tourism in Britain. NHS whistleblowers have told how bosses
are instructing them to turn a blind eye to health tourists because it
is 'too much trouble' to chase them for money.
Only around 16 per cent of the cost of treating health tourists is
ever clawed back, according to NHS estimates.

The Nigerian mother obtained a visitor's visa soon after discovering
she was pregnant in 2010, travelling to the UK to stay with her
younger sister, Stella, early in her pregnancy.
Back at home: The mother with her now four-year-old children in her
native Lagos, where she returned to in February 2013 after outstaying
an expired visa
The Nigerian mother obtained a visitor's visa soon after discovering
she was pregnant in 2010, travelling to the UK to stay with her
younger sister, Stella, early in her pregnancy
She gave birth to two boys and three identical girls at Homerton
Hospital in Hackney, East London, in April 2011 – seven weeks
premature. She had a complex caesarean and remained in hospital for
almost two weeks after the birth at a cost of £145,000 to UK
taxpayers.

Despite having an expired visa, Miss Ayelabola continued living in her
sister's flat in Poplar, East London, after the births. She didn't
return home until February 2013.
Miss Ayelabola's children are now four years old and attending a
private school. When she was tracked down by the Mail to the small
salon she shares with other beauticians, she said she did not
understand what she had done wrong. 'What is it that's my fault? I
don't understand,' she said.

The true cost of health tourism NHS is unknown, but a Government
commissioned report in 2013 put it as high as £2billion.
Experts say even this is an underestimate – because the vast majority
of overseas patients are never identified by hospitals.
By law, only patients who usually live in the UK are entitled to free
hospital care. But the NHS is legally obliged to provide care to
anyone if their life is at risk or treatment is considered
'immediately necessary' – and they have to claw the costs back later.
GP appointments are also provided free for everyone. A&E and maternity
care are always considered immediately necessary.
This means patients from overseas who are heavily pregnant women or
needing kidney dialysis will often target the NHS.
.'They blamed me that I came to the UK and I just came to use the
system. Which I did not do.
'If it (health tourism) is a problem in the UK, you should talk to the
NHS. I have never received my bill. If I had it, I would pay it.'
She added that she was allowed to stay in the UK without needing to
ask and without having to apply.
'I did not want to stay... it was just my situation,' she said.
MPs and campaigners last night described the case as 'galling' and
called for an inquiry into the hospital's failure to recoup the money.
Conservative MP Peter Bone said: 'If people have failed to do what
they should, then at the very least they need to put in a robust
system to ensure it doesn't happen again.'
Roger Goss, of Patient Concern, added: 'No wonder the NHS has such
financial problems.'
Miss Ayelabola runs a successful make-up business at the Elderberry
Salon in east Lagos. Her two boys, Tayseel and Samir, and three girls,
Aqeelah, Binish and Zara, attend a respected private school nearby.
Fees are at least £8,000 a year for the five of them.
She is thought to live alone with them and when they are not in
school, she takes them with her to work. She charges £40 per hour for
a full face of make-up and advertises through her Instagram account,
called 'Otse Beauty'. On the account she posts photographs of herself
and others in dramatic eye make-up.
It is understood Miss Ayelabola is separated from her wealthy husband,
Ohi Nasir Ilavbare, but he is still involved in the children's lives
and is believed to pay for their education.
She gave birth to two boys and three identical girls at Homerton
Hospital in Hackney, East London, in April 2011 – seven weeks
premature. But it has emerged that the hospital won't chase her for
the bill
The university-educated civil engineer runs two successful logistics
firms, Spry and Radija, whose clients include British American Tobacco
and DHL.
In an interview in 2011 Miss Ayelabola said: 'I had already had
miscarriages and couldn't bear the stress another pregnancy would
cause. So I decided to visit my family in London.
'I thought I would stand a much better chance of avoiding another
miscarriage in a calmer place with friends and family.'
However, when speaking to the Mail she denied coming to the UK to give
birth. She claimed she had no idea she was expecting more than one
child and was planning to return to Nigeria to have the babies – until
she had medical complications. 'I stayed after my children were born
because my kids were sick,' she said.
The multiple births are likely to be a result of double doses of
fertility drug Clomid, which she took for eight times longer than
recommended after buying the pills over the counter in Lagos.
Miss Ayelabola is understood to have left the UK voluntarily in
February 2013, following contact with the Home Office. It is believed
she has been banned from returning to Britain for five years.
The UK's system for flagging up foreign patients sees them treated
before hospital staff try to claw back costs.
In France, Germany and Scandinavia, patients must pay in advance. It
means hospitals across England are targeted by thousands of health
tourists a year.
It is understood Miss Ayelabola is separated from her wealthy husband,
Ohi Nasir Ilavbare, but he is still involved in the children's lives
and is believed to pay for their education
The university-educated civil engineer (pictured) runs two successful
logistics firms, Spry and Radija, whose clients include British
American Tobacco and DHL
Official estimates of the cost range up to £2billion but experts say
the true figure is likely to be far higher because there is no proper
recording system in place.
Homerton Hospital said it would not be contacting Miss Ayelabola for
the payment, despite her assertion that she would pay up if she
received a bill. 'If she wishes to contact us, we would urge her to do
so…. But we will not be contacting her,' a spokesman said.
He added that Miss Ayelabola received a bill more than six months
after she was discharged in 2011, which was returned to the hospital
unopened. No further attempts were made to bill her, it is understood.
A Department of Health spokesman said: 'It is completely unacceptable
that people living outside the UK think they can abuse our NHS. We
expect and are supporting the NHS to make every effort to reclaim
money owed to it.'
A spokesman for Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
said: 'We hope the five children have prospered and are healthy. We
would be pleased to reopen dialogue with Miss Ayelabola about her
outstanding bill.'


BRITISH COUPLE STRANDED IN NEW YORK WITH £85,000 MEDICAL BILL AFTER
THEIR BABY SON WAS BORN 11 WEEKS PREMATURELY Katie Amos, 30, and
fiancé Lee Johnston, 29, from Burgh-le-Marsh, Lincolnshire, welcomed
son Dax (together above) unexpectedly

A British couple were left stranded in New York with a £85,000 medical
bill after their baby son was born 11 weeks prematurely while they
were on a four-day getaway.
Katie Amos, 30, and fiancé Lee Johnston, 29, welcomed son Dax
unexpectedly on December 28 last year after she went into labour while
sightseeing in the Big Apple.
The pair, whose son weighed just 3lbs after being born 11 weeks before
his due date, were initially told by doctors the newborn will not be
able to fly back to the family home in Burgh-le-Marsh, Lincolnshire,
until March.
American doctors said the pair's medical bills could reach £130,000
($200,000), leaving the couple stranded overseas with limited clothes
and money.
They had an anxious five-day wait before they found out the costs
would be covered by their travel insurance Allianz and were flown back
by a private jet, with the baby in an incubator, six weeks later.
But they still had to wait for doctors to approve the journey – and
apply for a U.S passport.
They had set off on Boxing Day for the short break, but ended up at
Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan just two days
later.
Dax was born within hours of Miss Amos - a fitness instructor - going
into labour in New York's famous Central Park.
The couple had been told Dax wasn't be able to travel home until his
original due date of March 10 as he wouldn't be able to fly on a
commercial plane.
Their private flight stopped briefly in Canada and Iceland before
arriving East Midlands Airport the following day.

The couple were helped while abroad by donations of nearly £12,000
that flooded into a fundraising website and was used for clothes, food
and other essentials.
Mr Johnston, who is also a fitness instructor, said all donations were
now going towards a charity that provided them with cheap
accommodation during their stay in the Big Apple.

.
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