Tortured boy to get UK help

A typical village scene in Sierra Leone

A boy tortured by rebels during Sierra Leone's civil war will be allowed to come to Britain for treatment after all, the Department of Health has confirmed.

Issa Kamara, 10, had been turned away by the National Health Service - even though doctors were willing to work for free to help him - because of "red tape".

Issa Kamara: waiting for treatment

But Jacqui Smith, Minister of State for Health, said on Tuesday evening the youngster would undergo surgery in Britain "at the earliest opportunity".

Issa was abducted and roasted over a fire by Sierra Leone rebels, who made his mother clap and sing as she watched.

He now needs emergency medical treatment on his badly burned hand, which doctors in his own country cannot provide.

A UK newspaper, the Eastern Daily Press in Norwich raised the money to fly him to the UK, and specialists at the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital offered to give up their free time to carry out the operation.

The case of this young boy has rightly touched everyone's heart

Jacqui Smith
Health Minister

But NHS rules said Issa could not be treated because of the lack of a "reciprocal agreement" - which in theory would allow UK nationals to travel for treatment in Sierra Leone in the same circumstances.

Ms Smith said the Department of Health had overcome the bureaucratic difficulties.

She said: "The case of this young boy has rightly touched everyone's heart.

"We share the view that the best possible outcome for Issa would be for him to receive treatment in this country.

"I am therefore pleased to confirm that Issa will receive the treatment he needs in the UK at the earliest possible opportunity."

This is a victory for common sense

Peter Franzen, Eastern Daily Press editor

"We are delighted he has found a way through the red tape."

Norwich North MP Dr Ian Gibson had offered Issa somewhere to stay, giving him temporary resident status and allowing him to receive the treatment he needs.

The move followed a meeting Mr Gibson had with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on Tuesday afternoon.

Peter Franzen, editor of the Eastern Daily Press, welcomed the decision on Tuesday evening.

He said: "This is a victory for common sense. I think we have got to thank John Prescott for his intervention."

'Silly bureaucracy'

Dr Gibson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier in the day: "This is the sort of thing Britain does so well ... and we should really find ways round silly Home Office bureaucracy, or Department of Health bureaucracy, wherever it comes in.

He added: "This is an important issue and one which should be solved without all this hoohah."

"It smacks a little of bureaucracy gone mad. I think we have to find a way through it."

Pinkie McCann, of the Sierra Leone charity Leonenet Street Children, who knows Issa, said: "The problem is the hand has been so badly burnt it has turned in on itself and there are no doctors in Sierra Leone who are able to perform this surgery.

She said he believed adults were going to get him help: "He has believed what the adults have been telling him ... that 'we will get help for you, we will try to fix your hand'."