Asylum seeker's 'vital' op battle

By Melissa Jackson and Henri Astier
BBC News Online staff

Dorcas was fleeing unrest in DR Congo

An asylum seeker who fled her war-ravaged African homeland in fear of her life has found herself at the centre of a battle for health care in the UK.

Dorcas, who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, has had her bid for asylum turned down by the Home Office, but her health is poor and her lawyer believes that a long deportation flight home could kill her.

She has a serious medical condition which requires a hysterectomy.

I have reason to believe she will die without this operation Mufassil Islam, Dorcas's lawyer

However, because it is designated non-urgent surgery, she finds herself caught in a trap created by new rules introduced in April to force overseas visitors and failed asylum seekers to pay for non-emergency treatment in NHS hospitals.

The new rules will soon be applied to GP services following a Department of Health consultation process which ended earlier this month.

Worsening health

Fearing her life was under threat, Dorcas, 35, fled the DR Congo and arrived in the UK in February 2003.

She was encouraged to leave the country by friends of her husband, who said he had been killed and she would suffer the same fate if she stayed.

Dorcas has no idea where her three children are or if they are still alive.

She applied for asylum when she arrived in the UK and the Home Office provided a roof over her head while her case was being considered.

Her health deteriorated and she started to suffer unbearable stomach aches and heavy periods, with severe blood loss every month.

She told BBC News Online: "It was flowing like water and extremely painful."

Her asylum application was turned down last October and her right to appeal against the decision was also rejected.

She moved to the north-west where her GP referred her to a hospital consultant who carried out a scan which revealed "a lump as big as a ball" inside her stomach, although she is unable to tell us exactly what is wrong.

The consultant told her a hysterectomy was necessary, but could not be carried out until they had stopped the bleeding.

Once they treated her and stemmed the blood flow, a date was set aside for surgery in July 2004 and she hoped there was an end in sight to the health troubles that plagued her.

But two days before the operation was due, the hospital called to say they couldn't operate because the Home Office had told them she was not an asylum seeker, but a tourist, an overstayer.

"I cried and told them 'I'm in pain'."

Destitute and penniless

Her pleas were in vain. The hospital said that under new Department of Health rules, failed asylum seekers like Dorcas, are entitled to surgery only if categorised as an emergency case.

Because they had finally stopped the bleeding, her status dropped back to a non-emergency case.

She is still in pain, although not as severe as before, and the only treatment she can afford, when friends give her money, is paracetamol.

We have to provide asylum seekers with free health care - but failed asylum seekers are a different matter Department of Health spokesman

She has no prospect of surgery unless she pays for it, but Dorcas is destitute and penniless.

She survives on money from her friends and sleeps on a friend's floor because she has no means to support herself and does not receive any state aid.

But she was recently faced with a £700 bill recently landed on her doorstep for a one-day stay in hospital in May, when tests were carried out to find out what was wrong with her.

Dorcas said: "Where am I going to find £700 when I live on handouts from friends who give me a pound or two when I need it?"

Fight continues

Her lawyer, Mufassil Islam, fears it is only a matter of time before action is taken to deport her, but claims she is in no fit state to make the long journey home.

He said: "I believe that if she had to take a flight home she would be putting her life at risk

"This poor lady sits there grabbing hold of her stomach when she comes to see me - and she has come to see me frequently over the last few weeks.

"I think she is an emergency health case and I have reason to believe she will die without this operation.

"I believe that if she is removed from the UK the Secretary of State will be violating her human rights."

Because he has exhausted almost all possibilities under asylum and immigration rules, he is fighting her case under the Human Rights Act.

He says the British government is failing in its duty under the Act.

Although he missed the 90-day deadline for lodging an asylum appeal at the High Court after an application has been rejected, he will continue to fight for her.

He said: "I want to challenge the asylum decision on the grounds that her health was so poor when she was putting forward her case that she was not in a fit state to make the application.

Mr Islam, who is not being paid for his work with Dorcas, is hoping to lodge an application at the Home Office for the Secretary of State to reconsider Dorcas's situation outside the immigration rules and under the Human Rights Act.

Her options are limited. He fears if she does not receive treatment in the UK she will die and if she returns to the DR Congo she will perish.

He said: "There is no treatment for her in DR Congo and even if there was treatment there it would be well out of her reach.

"She has no money whatsoever and no-one to support her."

A Department of Health spokesman said he could not comment on individual cases, but confirmed a new system of charging is to be introduced for GP services to bring them in line with hospitals.

He said: "Under international law, we have to provide asylum seekers with free health care. But failed asylum seekers are a different matter."