Health tourists fast-tracked for eye surgery as Brits wait months for life-changing operation
Investigation reveals foreign patients are being offered surgery over Brit taxpayers as their condition is deemed a priority
HEALTH tourists are jumping the queue ahead of British NHS patients for cataract operations, a new investigation has revealed.
Around 300 foreign patients from the likes of Nigeria and Zimbabwe have been offered surgery over British taxpayers as their condition is deemed a priority.
The operation costs the NHS around £2,500 a pop, including translation costs, and many patients return to their home country before paying it back.
Despite this, they are being fast-tracked by doctors, which leads to lengthy delays for British patients.
Cataract surgery is the most common treatment on the NHS, with over 300,000 operations performed every year.
Yet it is being heavily rationed due to financial pressures on the health service.
New figures have shown that at least half of the UK’s health trusts ration cataract surgery, with some patients being told their vision is too good even if they can’t read or write.
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Some areas of the UK have average waiting times of nearly eight months, while others will now only operate on one eye at a time.
Cataracts cause sufferers problems with reading, writing and general vision, but can be easily treated with a 30-minute operation to remove the affected area and replace it with a plastic implant.
According to the , in the past two years 849 overseas patients were given cataract surgery on the NHS, despite not being eligible for free care.
The number includes 283 who were fast-tracked as medics deemed their condition to be more urgent than those already on the waiting list.
Speaking on the investigation, Professor J Meirion Thomas, a former cancer surgeon at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, told the paper: “This investigation proves again that health tourism is flourishing in the face of the feeble efforts of the Department of Health.
“Why should patients who are not eligible for free NHS care be allowed treatment at a rock-bottom price?”
The doctor said government research proved 84% of health tourists never repaid their debts to the country.
Meanwhile, Conservative MP Peter Bone said: “We really have to have a system which puts British people first.”
Andrew Percy, another Tory MP, commented: “The NHS is facing extreme pressures and its unacceptable that money is being spent on treatment for people that are ineligible.”
UK law requires prospective patients for free treatment, operations and scans to have lived in the nation for at least six months.
Lifesaving procedures, maternity care, A&E treatment and GP services are free for all.
Ministers have repeatedly made promises to crack down on health tourism amid accusations the National Health Services is too easy on foreign patients.
The government has announced proposals to begin charging foreign patients, although they are still in the process of “consulting” on the plans.
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