In an extraordinary move, a London hospital has decided to treat an Indian teenager suffering from a one-in-a-million disease in defiance of a deportation order served on her.
LONDON: In an extraordinary move, a London hospital has decided to treat an Indian teenager suffering from a one-in-a-million disease in defiance of a deportation order served on her.
Zarine Rentia, a 15-year-old girl suffering from the bone marrow disease Fanconi-Bickel Syndrome (FBS), was under deportation orders, having overstayed in Britain, when doctors at the University College London Hospital (UCH) stepped in Friday to offer treatment.
Earlier this month, Zarine had fallen seriously ill at another hospital in London, which referred her to UCH. But the Home Office ordered her to leave Britain before she could be admitted.
There have been only 112 other cases of FBS, a genetic disease, reported in medical history and Indian hospitals are thought to be unable to treat the condition.
“We were taking advice from the Home Office about her immigration status and they said her appeals had been exhausted and that we had no duty to treat her. But we have decided to treat her,” said Mark Palin, director of communications at UCH.
Zarine, whose case has led to a campaign to persuade the government to allow her to be treated in Britain, was to have been admitted at UCH on Friday evening.
Leaders of the Rentia Family Anti-Deportation Campaign were celebrating after the hospital decision. “We are delighted but this should never have happened in the first place,” said Celine Barry, chair of the campaign.
Earlier this month, the Home Office dismissed Zarine’s case citing a lack of “sufficient compelling circumstances to justify her remaining in the UK.”
Immigration Judge Justice Herlihy said she had “enormous sympathy for Zarine” but there is no satisfactory evidence that Zarine’s symptoms cannot be treated in India.”
Zarine’s case has been taken up by her north London school friends and teachers and by Labour MP Diane Abbot.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}