It is not right to scapegoat foreign visitors falling ill and needing treatment in an NHS hospital while visiting the UK. The case of the Nigerian women featuring in the BBC documentary ‘Hospital’ who went into labor at Heathrow has been widely used to describe visitors as non contributing exploiters of the generous institution that the NHS is.
It must however be noted that doctors graduating in developing countries such as Nigeria do contribute greatly to the NHS with their skills that come with education and training they receive in their home countries. An average doctor costs around 100 thousand pounds to train.
Around 36.5% doctors serving the NHS qualified in other countries (including 1.6% from Nigeria). Treatment some unfortunate visitor to the UK receives from the NHS is a small return for the gift these doctors are from other countries, including Nigeria, to the UK.
Rapid Response:
Re: Making “health tourists” pay for care
It is not right to scapegoat foreign visitors falling ill and needing treatment in an NHS hospital while visiting the UK. The case of the Nigerian women featuring in the BBC documentary ‘Hospital’ who went into labor at Heathrow has been widely used to describe visitors as non contributing exploiters of the generous institution that the NHS is.
It must however be noted that doctors graduating in developing countries such as Nigeria do contribute greatly to the NHS with their skills that come with education and training they receive in their home countries. An average doctor costs around 100 thousand pounds to train.
Around 36.5% doctors serving the NHS qualified in other countries (including 1.6% from Nigeria). Treatment some unfortunate visitor to the UK receives from the NHS is a small return for the gift these doctors are from other countries, including Nigeria, to the UK.
Competing interests: No competing interests