UK tests sentiments, plans TB test for visitors

New Delhi: Visitors from India and China could be asked to take tests for tuberculosis before coming to UK, the British Government has revealed.

“Currently we have a pilot project with seven countries, the countries in which TB is most prevalent, in which we test people before they receive their visas. This is a scheme which is now being evaluated and I think we will probably roll it out to more countries, like China and India,” the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday, quoting government whip Baroness Royall of Blaisdon as saying.

The move is an attempt by the Labour government to curb the rise in the potentially fatal and communicable disease, which usually affects the lungs.

Though, the scheme is likely to prove unpopular with immigrants arriving in Britain, peers said that "everybody coming to the UK for more than six months and all visitors from countries known to have high TB levels should be tested”.

In fact, health experts had attacked Ministers last month for the government's failure to act after it was revealed that "Britain is the only western European nation experiencing a sustained rise in TB 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 – takes 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 1,00,000 residents.

Under British 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.

Around 400 patients die from the disease every year, mainly due to late diagnosis, the daily reported, stating that in 2005 there was an 11 per cent rise in TB cases compared with 2004.

(With agency inputs)