Dying Pakistani man’s last wish is to meet his family, appeals for visa

LONDON/BIRMINGHAM: A terminally-ill heart patient Pakistani father of two young children has been told by doctors that he has just few days to live and he’s appealed to British High Commission in Islamabad to issue visas to his wife and two children so he could meet them one last time.

Speaking to Geo News at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he’s fighting for his life, Nasar Ullah Khan appealed to British High Commissioner Thomas Drew and Director General Inter Services Public Relations (DGISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor to assist his family.

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He 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 visa but the British High Commission has not issued the visa, Thomas Drew can take a look at my case and help issue 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. Its for humanity.”

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

He complained that he has made many appeals to Pakistan High Commission in London and to Pakistani government but no one has taken any interest in his case. Nasar Ullah Khan’s is a tragic story. Last week the Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital sent him a bill of £32,000 for the treatment he has received at the hospital because he’s a foreigner who is not entitled to free treatment. Nasar Ullah Khan has spent even last penny on his treatment and he 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 he entered in the country on a 6 months’ tourist visa and overstayed, doing menial jobs and not being able to ragularise 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 he lives in Birmingham and currently taking care of him in the hospital.

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

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 and there’s urgency.

“My brother is connected by tubes to a drip and can only walk a few steps at a time. He has a short time to live. Our lives have been turned upside down,” he said.

Elisabeth Bates, a Birmingham GP who is working with Doctors of the World, has started a campaign for the Pakistani patient and has written a moving piece in a local paper in support of Nasar Ullah Khan.

Dr Bates said: “My patient has been denied life-saving treatment because of where he was born (Pakistan). Nasar has found himself unable to go home and without his family at a time when he is facing the end of his life. A family visa application with ample supporting evidence was submitted, by fast track application over two weeks ago, to no response from the Home Office other than 'wait'. Each day that goes by is time he could be spending with his family.

“I am profoundly worried by the impact on him should the visa be further delayed or refused.”

In a statement the hospital said that it will continue to provide care to Nasaraullah Khan in in line with Home Office guidance that states “urgent and immediately necessary care should never be withheld or delayed.”