Seriously-ill Britons stuck in Pakistan run out of medicines

LONDON: Labour MP Naz Shah has called on the British government to provide financial assistance to thousands of stranded Britons in Pakistan.

In a letter to Lord Tariq Ahmed, the minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth, the Labour MP has said she has huge concerns that her constituents have paid more than once for flights that have been cancelled.

“People have now literally run out of money to buy a new ticket to return home. While I appreciate that the matter of PIA is for the Pakistan government, I am concerned that my constituents, many of whom are vulnerable with underlying health conditions, in some cases literally running out of their medicines, will not be able to return due to a lack of finances.”

People who have spoken to these reporters from Pakistan have said that some of the people who are currently stuck in Pakistan suffer from serious health conditions. A single mother from London, who is stranded in Rawalpindi, said that she is a cancer patient and needs to get back to London to get essential treatment but she has not been offered any help. She said that she has been unable to get advice on how to get the treatment or whether the UK government could take up her case with authorities in Pakistan.

Most of the people stranded in Pakistan are elderly and were visiting the country for an average two to three weeks. Naz Shah MP said that she has received messages from people across the UK requesting her to take up their cases with the UK government. She hoped that the British government will pay attention and find a way to help those who have serious underlying health conditions.

There are over 100,000 Britons in Pakistan at any given times. According to estimates by the British government, around 8000 are short-term travellers who wish to go back to the UK.

The British High Commission alongside the government of Pakistan has planned multiple special flights to repatriate British nationals in Pakistan but The News has discovered that exorbitant prices are being charged for these flights.