Migrants with TB should be sent home, say Tories

Once here, those with the disease are entitled to free treatment on the Health Service.

The Conservatives said last night that the loophole was fuelling 'health tourism' and any migrant found to have TB should be placed immediately on a plane back home.

scroll down for more

Cases of tuberculosis, which can be deadly if left untreated, are rising at 11 per cent a year, with immigrants accounting for seven out of ten new cases.

Pre-screening of potential migrants - forcing them to undergo health tests before they are granted a visa to visit Britain for six months or more - is taking place in only 11 countries.

These are Bangladesh, Cambodia, Eritrea, Ghana, Kenya, Laos, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Thailand.

This is despite 131 other countries being described as officially 'high-risk' of TB, which means there are over 40 cases for every 100,000 residents. The first test migrants from these nations receive is when they arrive at a British port.

Under Government guidelines, migrants found to have TB on arrival are sent to a GP or NHS hospital, where they are treated at taxpayers' expense.

The cost of treatment can range from £1,000 for a patient with nonresistant TB to as much as £125,000 for those with multi-drug resistant TB.

Tory immigration spokesman Damian Green said: 'People who are infected should not be let-out into the community. There is also clearly a danger of health tourism there, so to some extent we would all feel more comfortable if people could be told you have got to go home to be treated, you have got an infectious disease.

'They would not have come here without plans to return home if they are coming legally. It would clearly be better all round if they went straight back home to be treated.'

He added: 'The Government knows this is a long-standing health problem which is getting worse but, despite promising action, it has not delivered.

'They are screening applicants from very few countries, despite the number regarded as high risk standing at 142 around the world. There is not anything like enough action taking place.'

According to the Health Protection Agency, the majority of patients newly diagnosed with HIV, TB and malaria are migrants.

Around 70 per cent of new cases of TB in 2004 were found among people born outside the UK. Latestfigures for 2005 show the disease is on the increase, with the biggest rise among people born abroad.

There were 8,113 cases in 2005 - up from 7,321 cases in 2004, a rise of 11 per cent.

Around 300 to 400 people die of TB in the UK each year, with the highest proportion from an Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic background.

A Home Office spokesman said an expansion of TB pre-screening was being evaluated.