London: An Indian teenager suffering from a rare genetic disease faces deportation after her appeal to stay in Britain for the treatment was rejected.
Zarine (15), a student of the South Camden Community School, is currently being treated at the Great Ormond Street Hospital. Doctors, local lawmaker, teachers and others have been supporting a campaign to allow her to stay in the UK.
Zarine came to the UK in 2004 with her mother Tasnim as visitors. She was later diagnosed with the bone marrow disease Fanconi-Bickel Syndrome (FBS), of which doctors say there are only 112 other cases in medical history.
Refusing her appeal to stay in the UK, immigration judge Justice Herlihy said here last week that she had "enormous sympathy for Zarine, but was not satisfied that Zarine's symptoms cannot be treated in India".
The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington Diane Abbott said: "It would be crazy to send Zarine back to India. She is a model student who can thrive physically and emotionally in this country.
"In India her health is likely to deteriorate and she will not have access to educational facilities adjusted to her needs."
Abbott tabled an 'early day motion' in the House of Commons, urging the Home Secretary "as a matter of urgency" to allow her to remain in the UK on compassionate grounds.
Over 2,000 people have signed a petition organised by the Rentia Family Anti-Deportation Campaign group, urging the Home Office to allow her to stay in the UK.
In January, Ama Sumani, a terminally-ill Ghanaian woman was removed from her sick bed in a Cardiff hospital by immigration officials and put on a plane back to Ghana.
Comments
0 comment