DG ISPR, UK high commissioner assure to help dying Pakistani man in Birmingham

LONDON/BIRMINGHAM: The Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor and Britain’s High Commissioner to Pakistan Thomas Drew have assured to help a terminally ill Pakistani heart patient who is getting treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and has only a few days to live.

Geo News interviewed Nasar Ullah Khan at the Birmingham hospital in which he explained his tragedy and appealed to the British High Commissioner as well as the DG ISPR to help his wife and two sons obtain visas so they could visit him the hospital.

Replying to a tweet by this correspondent, Thomas Drew assured of his help and, while seeking details of the case, said: “I will see how we can help”.

After a public message for help was sent out by Nasar Ullah Khan to the DG ISPR, the spokesman of Pakistan Armed Forces assured of full support. He said: “Our prayers are with Nasar Ullah Khan and his family. We will get any support or facilitation from Pakistan Army as Pakistani citizens.”

Details of the visa applicants have been now passed to the British High Commissioner. The applicants include Nasar Ullah Khan’s wife Sania Butt, sons Muhammad Abdullah, 11, and Muhammed Saifullah, 11. Nasar Ullah Khan has not seen his children in 9 years after he came to the UK and overstayed his visa but has been unable to regularise his status.

Pakistan’s new High Commissioner to the UK Nafees Zakaria told this scribe that he has directed his staff to get in touch with the family of Nasar Ullah Khan and will do his best to assist the family in Pakistan as well as in the UK. Zakaria said that the situation of Nasar Ullah Khan needed humanitarian intervention. He said that while there were issues with the visa status of the patient, local doctors have shown great support for the patient.

Nasar Ullah Khan had said: “I have no hope left but in the dying moments my wish is to see my sons, aged 11 and 9. Its been two weeks that my family applied for the visa but the British High Commission has not issued the visa, Thomas Drew can take a look at my case and help issue the visa to my family. Major General Asif Ghafoor can help me a lot if he’s made aware of my case. I know he has helped many people in genuine need. It's for humanity.”

Nasar Ullah Khan has just a short time to live, due to end-stage heart failure and he is suffering from acute organ failure.

Last week, the Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital sent him a bill of £32,000 for the treatment because he is a foreigner who is not entitled to free treatment. Nasar Ullah Khan has spent every last penny on his treatment and has no money to pay the hospital bill. He was refused a lifesaving transplant just before Christmas because of his immigration status. He has lived in the United Kingdom for nine years but entered the country on a six months’ tourist visa and overstayed, doing menial jobs and not being able to regularise his status. Under the Home Office's immigration rules, only patients with “Indefinite Leave to Remain” are entitled to free medical treatment.

His younger brother Faisal Hanif is a British national and lives in Birmingham and is currently taking care of him in the hospital.

Khan’s condition is so weak and he is so seriously ill that doctors have told him he will be endangering his life if he travels. He cannot travel to Pakistan but the problem for him is further compounded by the fact that his wife and two sons are unable to visit him in the hospital because they don’t have UK visas.

Faisal Hanif told these correspondents that his brother’s wife and children applied for visas through “fast track” application but the High Commission has not responded yet.