UAE | Health
Doctors divided over Hepatitis deportation
Health officials are divided over whether a person with an infectious liver disease should be deported under the UAE law.
- By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:34 December 1, 2008
Dubai: Health officials are divided over whether a person with an infectious liver disease should be deported under the UAE law.
Some say carriers of Hepatitis B deserve to remain and be treated while others say deportation protects the population.
The UAE made Hepatitis B a "deportable disease" from July this year, requiring all expatriates seeking new employment and residence visa to be free of the blood-borne virus.
Other ailments inviting deportation are HIV/Aids and tuberculosis, but with a difference: any expatriate who test positive for either disease at any time will be automatically deported.
UAE nationals, who test positive for any of these diseases are treated, although some may be barred from working depending on the disease.
Speaking to Gulf News after the launch of an awareness campaign on Hepatitis B, officials of the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi disagreed over the necessity of the UAE immigration laws pertaining to Hepatitis B.
Dr Mazen Taha, gastroenterology and hepatology consultant at Tawam Hospital in Al Ain, told Gulf News that encouraging people to test for the disease was important to prevent its spread. But the new law discourages testing.
Medicines
"The law will drive the disease underground [for fear of testing and losing their livelihood]. If people don't get tested, the disease will spread," he said.
"There should be a change in immigration and health laws on different infectious grades. If they are not infectious [by receiving treatment], they should be allowed to work and stay in the country," he added.
He said effective medicines were available to delay or prevent complications. Anti-Hepatitis B medication costs about Dh3,000 monthly.
However, Dr Salem Awad Sabih, gastroenterology and hepatology consultant at Mafraq Hospital in Abu Dhabi, disagreed, saying it was too risky to allow hepatits B carriers to remain in the UAE.
"How can [one] be sure their viral load is low [thus non-infectious]?" he said.
"I agree with the deportation law because it is the right to do. We have a right to protect the country. I would like this country to be free of the disease," he added. He said fear of deportation and losing their livelihood should not prevent anyone from getting themselves tested as doing so would protect themselves, their family and their community.
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