By IANS
London : The quality of care and treatment in Indian hospitals has become the focus of a row over a deportation order served on an Indian teenager with a one-in-a-million genetic disease.
Zarine Rentia, a 15-year-old girl suffering from the bone marrow disease Fanconi-Bickel Syndrome (FBS), was being treated at Great Ormond Street children’s hospital in London after falling seriously ill, when her appeal to stay in Britain was turned down.
The Home Office dismissed Zarine’s case, citing a lack of “sufficient compelling circumstances to justify her remaining in the UK”.
Immigration judge Justice Herlihy said she had “enormous sympathy for Zarine” but was not satisfied her mother “has provided satisfactory evidence that Zarine’s symptoms cannot be treated in India”, despite reports to the contrary submitted by several specialist British doctors.
Zarine’s mother argues her treatment would be compromised in India as very little is known about the disease – there have been only 112 other FBS cases reported in medical history.
“This is the worst time in my life,” Zarine’s mother Tasnim said. “I want to say so many things but I can’t. When I told Zarine the news, she just cried and said ‘Why?'”
“I don’t understand why they are not considering my child’s case,” Tasnim was quoted saying by a community newspaper in the North London neighbourhood where Zarine goes to school.
Camden New Journal said Gerry Robinson, one of Zarine’s teachers, said she was “appalled” by the Home Office ruling.