MrsLondon

Anyone thinking of moving back to the UK with a foreign spouse may be interested in this;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3121783.stm

baloo

Foreigners arriving in the UK from countries with a high incidence of TB, and staying for more than 6 months in the UK, are already subjected to health screening when they enter. This is regardless of whether they are married to UK nationals or not.

Though those who are British citizens living abroad in countries deemed to have a high incidence of TB, who then return to the UK to live, slip through the net....

MrsLondon

True, thought most UKC have been vaccinated against TB, while I'd have thought most foreign nationals from those countries have not.

baloo

Though there are hundreds of thousands of UK citizens born abroad in these same countries, who may or may not have been vaccinated against TB, and still they are waved through...

MrsLondon

Still, I'm sure the UK is not unique in that. I bet USC that have been to TB risk countries are not X-rayed when they come back, even though imigrants from EVERY country are.

Oms

From the BBC article, it seems that the overwhelming response to this suggestion has been negative. It also states that the plan "has been condemned as "extremist" and "unworkable" by politicians, refugee groups and health workers."

It seems that none of the organizations, political or medical groups have anything good to say about this plan. Are the Conservatives just trying to get more anti-immigrant votes?

Again?

Yorkieabroad

Got to say, I don't really see what all the hooha is about. I've lived overseas for the last 8 or so years, and have had to undergo medicals of some form or another each time I moved country. In the case of Singapore, you now need a medical even when extending an employment pass, and a positive TB or HIV test autmoatically means refusal (and deportation if you are already there). I would have thought most modern countries have some form of medical as part of their immigration process - why shouldn't the UK? I agree it could make things tricky for UKC's living overseas married to non-UKC's (I'm one of those myself) but not sure if the proposed rules extend to that or not.

MrsLondon

When you say you had a TB test in Singapore, do you mean an X-ray? As most UKC would test poisitive due to the BCG vaccine. Would seem a bit harsh to deport you for that!

daisymoll

Why shouldn't people have to do a medical, why when the Uk suggests it does it become racist/extremist but it is ok for countries such as US and Canada to do them??? It seems like common sense to me.

Yorkieabroad

Yes, I assume that is what they were looking for with the X-ray. BCG is given in Singapore as well. As is Hep A (or is it B - whichever we don't get in the UK, anyway) which caused us all sorts of problems with a UK life insurance company who thought we were Hep A (or B) carriers, rather than having immunity to it! Aaagh!

Oms

Medical screening for immigrants IS common sense.
Why is it that this suggestion is only just now being made?
Why have so many past UK governments (present Labour government included) been so bereft of common sense and why is this not the norm already?

If mere screening was the suggestion, there would be no controversy.

But that is not the way the Conservatives do business. Why simply make a common sense suggestion when you can simply state that "all those infected immigrants are taking up your NHS resources"?

What this is about is the Cons trying to use anti-immigration sentiment to translate into votes, not medical screening. According to the article itself, there has been no study that puts the blame of draining NHS resources squarely on the shoulders of immigrants.

On the contrary, the article states: "Doctors' union the British Medical Association (BMA) also said the suggestions were "poorly thought out

Perhaps a more effective suggestion may have been to put the money our government wasted on its recent Iraqi expedition into the NHS. Or perhaps to lobby to put the billions UK citizens will have to pay for in taxes that will be used to "rebuild Iraq" into rebuilding the UK first?

Why is it that every time an election nears that some idiot has to blame immigration for all our problems?

In short, I agree that our government should ALREADY have been screening immigrants for these illnesses. Why were they not?

What I believe is behind the Conservative spin on this issue is to use the "infected immigrant" image to their use. Their idea is to, in the words of shadow health secretary Liam Fox, "stop people coming to Britain simply for free health care, draining the resources of the NHS."

Can they not simply make a common sense suggestion without trying to put such a xenophobic spin on it?

Knowing the Conservatives, probably not.

Oms

Just as an addendum, the present Labour government irks me even more than the Conservatives.

When will the days of two-party dictatorship ever end?

celticheart

I thought BCG was discontinued in late 70s in the UK whereas in eastern europe and far east it was still administered well into the 90s.

If that is true, then the irony of screening foreign nationals but not UKC is obvious.

Having said that, eastern european population still has the highest rate of TB in the world. (as a region)



keep breathing---

daisymoll

The Conservatives are generally doing there isn't Great Britain a terrible place to live with lots of issues as far as I can make out. Isn't this what politicians do?

Over here in Nova Scotia, the current leader just sent all taxpayers a $155 refund two months before the election. Now if that isn't a blatant bribe??

Yorkieabroad

I haven't looked recently, but a couple of years back when our first boy was due to get his (in Singapore) I compared the Singaporean routine with eh UK routine. At that time, UK gave the BCG to high risk groups at birth, then routinely to all children at secondary school. May have changed now though.