Letters
Absence of data fuels "foreign scroungers" mentality
EDITOR,--The obvious answer to the question posed by Charles Tannock and Trevor Turner at the end of their letter1 is, "No, the NHS cannot afford to treat mentally ill people not ordinarily resident in Britain." When such issues are discussed, however, it is important that accurate figures are produced to back all claims. Anecdotal evidence and phrases like "a considerable number" or "many others" without accompanying statistics are not sufficient in a subject such as this, which has socioeconomic and political ramifications.
The mentally ill patients from the so called Third World who are seen by the authors may actually be British citizens or legal residents paying tax and National Insurance contributions. Visitors to Britain from the Third World go through extensive interviews at British embassies abroad before they are granted entry visas and subsequently undergo intensive scrutiny by immigration officers at the point of entry before being allowed into
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- Psychiatric tourism is overloading London beds
- Charles Tannock and Trevor Turner
BMJ 1995 311: 806.[Extract] [Full Text]
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