Impractical and unjust

doi:10.1136/bmj.39520.564792.3A

BMJ 2008;336:684 (29 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39520.564792.3A

Letters

Refused asylum seekers

Impractical and unjust

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

No matter where you stand on immigration, I find it hard tosee how denying primary care to a person can be compatible withbeing a doctor.¹ Credit to Iona Heath, and also Frank Arnold,for highlighting this looming injustice. Fairly recently, apolitician also highlighted that a policy of excluding "illegals"is as impractical as it is unjust:

"One of the consequences of the universality of the Britishhealth service is the free treatment of foreign visitors. Thishas given rise to a great deal of criticism, most of it illinformed and some of it deliberately mischievous. Why shouldpeople come to Britain and enjoy the benefits of the free healthservice when they do not subscribe to the national revenues?So the argument goes. No doubt a little of this objection isstill based on the confusion about contributions to which Ihave referred. The fact is, . . . [Full text of this article]

Duncan A H Edwards, general practitioner registrar

¹ Cambridge

dedwards333@hotmail.com