WARNING: Health tourists are seriously damaging our nation's wealth

By Keith Gladdis & Lee Harpin

FOREIGNERS flocking to Britain to fiddle free healthcare are defrauding the NHS out of more than £2BILLION a year —enough to build 20 new hospitals.

And while hordes of "health tourists" cynically con their way to hugely expensive treatment, law-abiding Brits endure National Insurance hikes and ever-increasing hospital waiting lists.

We can reveal that 100,000 foreigners turn up at emergency wards each year claiming to have "suddenly" fallen ill.

Exploit

But many have long-term diseases like kidney failure and others even need organ transplants. Some receive treatment costing more than £50,000.

Thousands of heavily pregnant women arrive here specifically to exploit our system. Some inner city maternity wards complain that HALF their patients are from abroad. Most get care worth over £1,500.

And at least 6,000 HIV sufferers are coming into the UK annually, according to the Institute Of Hepatology—each taking treatment costing £15,000 a year.

Some AIDS clinics reveal that up to 80 PER CENT of patients have lived in the UK for less than a year. The potential bill is £900 million and rising. Last year immigration overtook gay sex as our biggest source of HIV infection.

Hospitals should charge pat-ients not eligible for NHS care. But the vast majority skip the country without paying a penny.

And the crisis is made worse by the increase in asylum seekers and people on work visas ENTITLED to free treatment.

News   investigators talked to NHS bosses, consultants, doctors and Whitehall administrators to assemble our terrifying dossier.

The statistics are shocking. An incredible 95 per cent of hepatitis B cases reported here are actually contracted outside Britain—each costs us £10,000 a year.

And 40 per cent of London's acute psychiatric beds are taken up by foreigners. Australian backpackers doing Europe head to Britain first where they immediately use their visas to register with a GP and get free travel jabs and tablets—saving £300.

And, as figures collated by the Conservative Party put that £2billion price tag on the medical freeloading scandal, health chiefs warn that overstretched hospitals simply cannot cope.

Dr Anne Edwards, a consultant at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital, said: "We're in crisis. Not only do we not have enough money for our own population but we're having to treat lots of people from other countries.

"We're shelling out huge amounts of money. A lot of people are resentful."

Richard Rawlins, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Bedford Hospital, said: "One solution could be the introduction of entitlement cards. The alternative is total anarchy, where the British NHS becomes responsible for medical care of three-quarters of the world's population."

GPs are considered the "gatekeepers" of the NHS because any non-emergency patient wanting hospital treatment must be referred by them.

A BBC1 Real Story documentary tomorrow shows how foreigners can sign up for free treatment simply giving a fake address.

But GPs in one London health trust were recently advised NOT to seek proof of entitlement—for fear of discriminating against refugees and asylum seekers.

GPs face legal action if they attempt to strike off suspected cheats. Manchester doctor Ian Burton tried to remove an Iranian family who registered a growing number of relatives and visitors at their address.

Court

He was threatened with the Commission for Racial Equality.

"Our own defence organisation said that if it went to court we'd have lots of bad publicity," he said. "From that point we've not policed anything."

But Ronald Langstaff, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at a busy west London hospital, insisted: "This isn't a racial issue, it's a resources and entitlement issue."

He knew one case where a foreign woman turned up at casualty demanding dialysis.

He said: "When told she wasn't entitled she turned round and said if they didn't treat her she'd apply for asylum and get it free anyway! That is blatant abuse." 

I know who ordered Voodoo boy's murder

By Neville Thurlbeck, Chief Reporter

THE Newssvet has unearthed sensational new evidence in the hunt for the voodoo killers of a boy whose limbless torso was found in the Thames.

Today we can reveal the shocking truth about HOWand WHY the tragic child died.

Our information has already been seized upon by a grateful Scotland Yard as vital-and they are already investigating.

Our breakthrough came when we tracked down a 73-year-old juju priest to his London home.

The man, until now terrified to go to police, hears the confidences of much of London's Nigerian community.

Knife

He will now testify that the boy, called Adam by cops, was sacrificed to Chango, the voodoo spirit of judgment, to cast a spell that would help a Nigerian villain escape a drugs charge.

We also have the street nickname of the man said to have ordered the horrific killing, and the London address where he lived until a year ago.

The priest, speaking through a translator in his native Yoruba language, told our team: "People have come to confess knowledge of this crime as a way of unburdening themselves.

"One person told me Adam was slaughtered like a chicken at a house in London. He had his throat cut with a knife, then his eyes, brain, heart, blood and genitals were removed.

"This is voodoo practice. These parts are the essence of an innocent soul. They were then burned on an altar and sacrificed to Chango."

The priest, whom police have asked us not to identify, added: "Chango has the power to put a good or a bad influence on your life. In this case, they were asking Chango to do good for the villain by releasing him from the charge.

"When the sacrifice was taking place, those present would be wearing white robes. If they were trying to do evil to the villain, they would have been wearing black.

"The sacrifice apparently worked. I heard that either the charges were dropped or he was found not guilty.

"Normally, the rest of the body would be buried. Adam's body was thrown in the river. That was amateurish."

At Scotland Yard's request we are withholding from this report several highly-sensitive facts we have uncovered. But what can be pieced together is one of the greatest forensic jigsaw puzzled ever undertaken by British police after Adam's body was discovered on September 21, 2001.

To begin with they had no information, just the body of a boy aged four to seven, with the limbs professionally removed and blood entirely drained. What was left of the torso ended in a pair of bright orange shorts.

Then, early last year, a Nigerian woman named Joyce Osagiede appeared in a Glagow court accused of a breach of the peace. A social worker said the woman wanted to take one of her daughters to a ‘demonic ritual'.

We have discovered that an alert policeman in court had heard of the investigation in London and made a phone call to the incident room. Was there a link?

Gold

Before this, the only clue was a pair of orange shorts, labelled size 116 and ‘Kids & Co', an own-brand label of German Woolworths.

Adams's corpse subjected to DNA testing and results pointed to a West African origin.

Scientists also examined the contents of Adam's intestines.

Pollen residue indicated he had been alive in London long enough to take in local pollens. They also found a mixture of ground animal bones, quartz or sand, clay...and traces of gold. Possibly the ingredients of a ritual potion.

All our bones carry chemical traces of where we have lived. The make-up of Adam's remains indicated he came from Nigeria in West Africa.

Forensic teams flew to Nigeria to bring back samples of soil and animal bones to test against Adam's body composition. Eventually it looked hugely likely that he came from the area of Benin City.

And that was where the Glasgow woman Joyce Osagiede had married her husband Onojhighovie.

Police discovered she had previously visited Catford in east London—and had told people there that she had also lived in Germany.

Police raided her flat and found five items of clothing from Kids & Co, including size 116 shorts.

DNA samples were taken from her, but she is not related to Adam and, because she did not arrive in Britain until after Adam died, is not involved in the murder. But then police discovered she had placed her daughter in temporary foster care while they lived in Germany.

We can disclose that they spoke to the foster carer who recalled TWO children — one in orange shorts. Could those have been the shorts Adam was found wearing? Joyce Osagiede clammed up.

But when she had arrived in Britain she had told immigration officials she was escaping from a cult. She said her husband had been involved in it and had been responsible for the ritual death of 11 children.

Still, police were unable to take their investigation into her any further and, last November, she was deported to Nigeria.

Meanwhile, cops hunting her husband found he was wanted in Germany for people trafficking. They traced him to Dublin and are awaiting the result of DNA tests. Police believe he may be connected to Adam's death.

Pierced

Two weeks ago, in raids on addresses thrown up by the hunt, an animal skull pierced by a staple and bound in black cotton was found. It will be tested to see if it is the source of the ground bone in Adam's stomach.

The London voodoo priest our investigators discovered added: "Adam would have been kidnapped at midnight. This is typical voodoo practice.

"The gang who did it would have been paid £5,000. The average wage in Nigeria is £20 a week.

"I am very afraid. But I recognise I must talk to police and I will do so."

The jigsaw pieces are finally coming together.