Why did they bring him here ?

[sadie3]

news.sky.com/story/988835/two-dead-after-contracting-mystery-virus

A severely-ill patient from the Middle East is being treated in a London hospital suffering from a mystery respiratory virus that has killed two patients in Saudi Arabia.

The 49-year-old man is in intensive care after being transferred to the UK via air-ambulance from Qatar where he was taken ill a few weeks ago having recently visiting Riyadh.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the infection is a new type of coronavirus different from any previously found in humans.

[threeorangesocksmorganisagirl]

I don't think Clapypole deserves a
that is what I don't get, even on private plane surely there are still checks made.

[ThursdayWillBeTheDay]

Quick! Where's the zombie plan????

[LadyBeagleEyes]

Where's SarahStratton* when you need her.
Eh? Eh?
This could be an emergency situation.

[anairofhope]

Im going to sound like a nutter now sorry but i have to tell

About my dream the other night. It was about a virus that turned people into zombies and the only place safe was icu as the air isfiltered and contained in the ward. But a evil man messed with the air vent and everyone got infected and i had to jump out of the window into a river to get away.

It was well scary but if there is an outbreak ICU is the best place to be!

Hope the man gets better and thoughts are with his family.

[SaraBellumHertz]

He got clearance to fly because he flew on a private jet.

Other than that I cannot articulate myself any better than felicity did above.

[claig]

Please read the Daily Mail article. They did not know what he had, he flew in on a private plane and went to a private hospital. He was then transferred to an NHS hospital when his condition got worse.

[MrClaypole]

keithlemon I was not suggesting he got on a BA plane!!

Clearly it would have been a private one but as threeorangesocks says, even passengers arriving on private planes are subject to border checks/must complete landing cards/hold visas etc.

[EatingSwansHorror]

As a man potentially lies dying in a hospital bed, someone asks who's paying. Delightful. The sense of entitlement that some of you consider yourselves to have simply because you we're born in this country is sickening. Urgh.

[0liverb0liverbuttface]

Great post felicity couldn't have put it better myself.

I'm horrified by some of the attitudes on here - but maybe the posters who don't care about the sick human being at the centre of this 'news' can comfort themselves with the thought that had he been left abroad and untreated, the illness could have been brought into the uk by lots of nasty foreigners who were carriers but not yet unwell themselves.

So maybe - if you think about the possible unintended benefit for yourselves it actually becomes money well spent?

[OrangeandGoldMrsDeVere]

I remember a thread on another forum.
Someone started it because Russian quads were using up resources in a British hospital.
She was outraged that these babies were taking up space that English ones could be using.

I know its not the same as this thread but it has reminded me.

[anairofhope]

I alway thought America had the best medical centres, equipment and drugs.

Why is the NHS better than private American care centers?

[threeorangesocksmorganisagirl]

what is wrong with talking about the risk?
I don't care who pays or where someone comes from, but am just interested in how someone with a contagious infection can just enter the country.

[pumpkinsweetie]

Exactly my point threeorange

[SapphireandFevertree]

Threeorange- he's not in quarantine now. Quarantine would be a period of time where he was contained to see if he developed a disease. He is in an isolation to provent transmission of a known disease to others while he is treated.
And I didn't say one couldn't quarantine people, but that we didn't. We only quarantine animals.

There are no health checks to enter the uk whether you arrive by private or commercial means. The airline may refuse you on the grounds you are not fit to fly.

[harbingerofdoom]

So all those staff in the first private hospital could have caught/be carriers of this new virus.
Then he went into isolation in an NHS hospital.
Please correct me if my thoughts of widespread cont

[threeorangesocksmorganisagirl]

he flew to another country.
there is no way that everyone he came into contact would have been protected as they are now.
so I wonder how many people he might have infected.
people that no doubt aren't rich.

[harbingerofdoom]

As Three oranges says - airline staff etc.........

[Chubfuddler]

If the world is going to end on dec. 21st I am going to spend the Xmas present money on booze, fags and cake. I don't smoke but would start again if we all have three months to live.

[LadyBeagleEyes]

You have the perfect nn for this thread, Harbinger.

[edam]

anair - why do you assume the US has the best hospitals and healthcare? Actually the US has some of the worst outcomes in the developed world for the most expensive healthcare in the developed world. (Which is not to say US hospitals are rubbish, it's to do with the system and the barriers that stop people receiving healthcare/doing things that make money for healthcare providers rather than benefit the patient.)

Anyway, to answer your question, there are many world-class hospitals and facilities in the UK, such as Moorfields and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

[MmeLindor]

Bluestocking Mon 24-Sep-12 15:37:55
Ignore | Favourite
Bloody hell, he probably caught it off a goat. It's political correctness gone mad! Why should the NHS be treating these nasty foreign diseases anyway? What's wrong with nice English diseases?

Is that sarcasm? I really can't tell.

You have won the Daily Main Bingo Prize for a MN Post 2012. Congratulations.

[threeorangesocksmorganisagirl]

I love the way you can't discuss this without being accused of xenophobia or racism.
imo where and who the person is, is a side issue.
the issue imo is that someone who ever they are can travel when infectious.
they then risk infecting people they meet on their travels.

[MmeLindor]

I didn't accuse everyone of xenophobia or racism, Threesocks. Just Bluestockings, based on the nasty forrin diseases and lovely English diseases. Which may or may not be an actual real comment. I can't decide.

And yes, of course it is a valid question. At the same time, many posters (like Eldritch) have given fact based answers such as the readiness of UK hospitals to admit such patients.

We are better equipped, and we could do with the money.

[heroutdoors]

He was not brought here. He bought his way here.
He probably hired an air ambulance rather than a private plane.

[Schlock]

It's been a while since we had a deadly pandemic threat. Swine flu was the last that I remember. Remember all those Mexicans who died? that was about 3 years ago now wasn't it?

I'd be more concerned about what is going on that the govt feel the need to scare people daft so that they tow the line on other things without batting an eyelid.