The Sunday Express of the 7th April carried a full-page report headed ‘Got AIDS? Welcome to Britain’. That heading aptly described the sheer lunacy to which the present Government's immigration policies have now descended.

The report went on to say that:-

‘Asylum-seekers with AIDS, TB and other killer diseases are gaining permanent entry to Britain by exploiting a dangerous loophole in the law.

‘The loophole, discovered by a Tanzanian woman and her lawyers, relates to an article in the European Convention of Human Rights.

‘All that needs to be proven is that the asylum-seeker is suffering from a life-threatening disease and that health care in their country of origin is not up to first world standards.’

The report went on to relate the case of Hindu Mwakitosi, who was set to be deported back to Tanzania until she appealed under article three of the Human Rights Act relating to ‘medical grounds’. She produced her trump card - a medical certificate stating that she is HIV-positive. She claimed her life was in imminent danger back home because Tanzania's medical facilities were inadequate. An adjudicator was forced to find in her favour, allowing her to stay.

But that's only the tip of the iceberg. Miss Mwakitosi has now landed a job at a London law firm, advising other asylum-seekers how to beat the deportation system. She was reported as happily revealing to the Sunday Express:-

‘l am HIV-positive, I am HIV-positive, yes I am, most definitely! I told my boss and everyone and I have a certificate to prove it, and I now have the right to stay in this country.’

Millions more on the way?

The Sunday Express report went on to state the truth - that the number of people dying from AIDS, Ebola and TB in Africa is so vast that it far outnumbers the entire population of the United Kingdom. The mind simply boggles at the potentialities this test case has opened up for such people wanting to get to this country, potentialities, which Miss Mwakitosi is now busily exploiting in the office of the firm where she works. The Sunday Express again:-

‘..now it appears they only have to set foot on British soil and they have the right to stay until cured. Viruses like HIV are never removed from the body - so that means for life. The cost of retrovirus drug treatment to stop HIV turning into full-blown AIDS is nearly £15,000 a year. But many asylum-seekers have already started to develop the disease and for them the cost of treatment can be ten times higher.’

This, of course, is only about the financial costs to the Health Service in Britain. That is important enough at a time when we have just been informed of big tax increases in order to provide more health funding.

But as to the wider costs to general public health of having untold numbers of new people roaming about this country carrying diseases that could infect anyone near them, we wonder whether anyone at official level has even started to think about the ramifications of these - or, if they have, whether there is, anywhere, the political will to take the necessary action.

And action is becoming imperative. Said the Sunday Express:-

‘The number of AIDS cases among heterosexuals in Britain is rising at a faster rate than ever. Last year, 1,819 cases were diagnosed, of which 71 per cent were among Africans. So far, 12,248 people have died of the disease in Britain.’

And what does the Home Office say about this potential danger being increased a hundredfold? One spokeswoman was quoted as saying:

‘We have an obligation under the Human Rights Act section three which deals with applications on medical grounds. It says people can stay if there is an imminent fear of death if deported... if you come from a country where facilities are poor, a serious viral illness could be considered as an exceptional, compassionate and compelling argument to stay.’