Cancer patient loses visa battle

A Ghanaian woman who came to Wales five years ago and became a student has been told she must return to the African country, despite being terminally ill. Ama Sumani, 39, was taken by officials from hospital in Cardiff where she has been receiving dialysis for a year after cancer damaged her kidneys. Ms Sumani, whose visa has expired, said she cannot afford this care in Ghana. Her solicitor said they had pleaded compassionate grounds. The Home Office said it examined each case "with care". Ms Sumani left hospital in a wheelchair at 0800 GMT with immigration officials and was driven away from the University Hospital of Wales. A friend said she was due to leave on a plane back to Ghana at 1400 GMT. The cancer she is suffering from - malignant myeloma - would ordinarily be treated with a bone marrow transplant. But because Ms Sumani is a foreign national she is not entitled to this from the National Health Service (NHS). The dialysis treatment she has been receiving is helping to prolong her life and her last treatment was on Tuesday evening. She first came to the UK as a visitor in 2003, but then changed her status to student and attempted to enrol on a banking course at a city college, her solicitor explained. Ms Sumani''s lack of English prevented her from pursuing the course and she went to find work which contravened her student visa. In 2005 she returned to Ghana to attend a memorial service for her dead husband. But when she came back to the UK her student visa was revoked and she was only given temporary admission which effectively meant she was given notice she would be removed, her solicitor said. She did not keep in touch with immigration officials and was first taken ill in January 2006. Without the dialysis doctors fear she only has weeks to live.
Her solicitor said she accepted her removal was fair but said they had made representations on her behalf on compassionate grounds. Ms Sumani is being removed from the country rather than deported because of her expired visa which means she has no legal status in the UK. A removal means that in theory she could apply to return to the UK in the future. A spokesman for the Border and Immigration agency said said it would not remove from the UK anyone who they believe is at risk on their return.