Polish politicians argue over right to expel sick foreigners

The Polish government has issued a decree ordering foreigners who have contracted major infectious diseases to be expelled from the country.

The decree issued by the leader of the centre right coalition, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, of the Law and Justice Party, came into effect in February 2007. But it is opposed by Poland's health minister, who says that foreign patients threatened with expulsion will have the right to appeal, and that in practice none would have to leave.

The decree applies to all foreigners—including EU citizens—who are given a diagnosis of infectious diseases such as …