A Nigerian woman who flew to Britain and gave birth to twins has cost the National Health Service (NHS) £350,000, approximately N173,950,000.
The unidentified woman is said to have had a caesarean section followed by intensive care treatment for the two babies at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital in 2015.
She had been transferred there from another hospital because of pregnancy complications.
“They were delivered safely but spent two months in our Neonatal Intensive Care and High Dependency units. This is the reason for the high cost and we are currently pursuing the patient for payment,” said a spokesperson for Luton and Dunstable Hospitals.
The towering figures reveal how ‘health tourists’ abuse the NHS system.
According to Daily Mail, health tourism costs the British government up to £250 million annually.
Compared to other countries, patients face fewer checks on eligibility for free treatment.
The hospital, which has one of just three pediatric intensive care units in the East of England region, said it could not refuse treatment if there was a “danger to life”.
13,077 overseas patients were given treatment in the UK in 2015-16, according to data from the 90 hospitals who responded to the freedom of information requests.
Of those, over 3,000 were mothers who arrived in the country to give birth and it is said that a significant number of these women are from Nigeria.
The case at Luton was uncovered through series of freedom of information requests sent by Daily Mail to all hospitals in England.
In addition, the Imperial College Hospitals in West London said it was chasing a £319,895 bill for a woman who gave birth to triplets.
The staff at Imperial College disclosed that this autumn, they looked after a 43-year-old Nigerian woman who gave birth to quadruplets.
She went into premature labour on the flight to London and one of the babies died.
The costs of caring for the surviving three infants have passed £100,000 and the hospital staff predict a final bill of half a million pounds.
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If people can afford to fly, one would assume they can afford to have health insurance, which should be a compulsory requirement for travellers to anywhere from anywhere.
Sadly when UK hospitals are all mouth and trousers, what dose any one expect
Yet a high street optician won’t do any thing for me with out a resume of documents