Cancer patient loses visa battle
Ama Sumani was treated at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff
A Ghanaian woman who came to the UK five years ago and became a student is being flown back to the African country, despite being terminally ill.
Ama Sumani was taken by immigration officers from a Cardiff hospital where she has been receiving dialysis for a year after cancer damaged her kidneys.
Ms Sumani, 39, whose visa has expired, said she cannot afford care in Ghana.
Her solicitor said they had pleaded compassionate grounds. The Home Office said it examined each case "with care".
Before leaving, she had been comforted by a nurse in a day-room at the University Hospital of Wales.
The immigration service arrived at 0800 GMT.
Ms Sumani was tearful but calm when she left hospital in a wheelchair with five immigration officials, one carrying her suitcase, and she was driven away.
She left on a flight from Heathrow to Ghana at 1435 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.
Legal status
But it needs to be repeated regularly and there are concerns she would not be able to access dialysis treatment centres in Ghana.
Health care there is also private but Ms Sumani said she could not afford it.
A spokesman for Ghana's high commission in London said the country had two fully-equipped hospitals in Accra and further north in Kumasi.
He did concede that access to treatment was costly but said that if Ms Sumani was a member of the Ghana national health insurance scheme she would still receive treatment.
Immigration officials arrived at the hospital on Wednesday morning
A friend Janet Simmons said Ms Sumani was a widow and a mother of two children, who were currently being looked after by members of her church in Ghana.
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But when she came back to the UK her student visa was revoked and she was only given temporary admission which effectively meant she was given notice she would be removed, her solicitor said.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.
"Part of our consideration when a person is removed is their fitness to travel and whether the necessary medical treatment is available in the country to which we are returning," he added.
"Removals are always carried out in the most sensitive way possible, treating those being removed with courtesy and dignity."
Originally posted by heldenAnger after removed Ghanaian dies
Cancer patient loses visa battle
Ama Sumani was treated at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff
A Ghanaian woman who came to the UK five years ago and became a student is being flown back to the African country, despite being terminally ill.
Ama Sumani was taken by immigration officers from a Cardiff hospital where she has been receiving dialys ...[text shortened]... he most sensitive way possible, treating those being removed with courtesy and dignity."
Ama Sumani, 39, died two months after being removed from the UK
The Archbishop of Wales says the death of a Ghanaian woman removed from the UK while being treated for cancer will be on Britain's conscience.
Barry Morgan said a "civilised, wealthy society" had turned "a sick woman out of her bed and put her on a plane".
Ama Sumani, 39, was removed from a Cardiff hospital in January after her visa expired. She has died in Ghana.
The Home Office said the case had been carefully considered through the independent judicial process.
Friends of Ms Sumani, a widow, have vowed to used funds raised in an attempt to help her to ensure her two children get a proper education.
Her death in Accra came hours after she had been told doctors in the UK and South Africa had been found to treat her.
What sort of moral example does that send to the rest of the world?
Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan on Ama Sumani's removal
More than £70,000 had also been raised towards drugs unavailable in the 39-year-old's home country.
Dr Morgan said he was "enormously sad" to hear the news.
He said: "I believe her death is on the conscience of this nation because we deported her when it was against every humanitarian instinct to do so.
"My thoughts and prayers are with her family."
'Too tired'
Following Ms Sumani's removal from the University Hospital of Wales, Church of Wales bishops said it had breached her human rights.
Dr Morgan said flexibility was needed in immigration cases, adding: "We need to exercise compassion and understanding and act appropriately for each case.
"It is never appropriate for a civilised, wealthy society to turn, literally, a sick woman out of her bed and put her on a plane to a very worrying future.
"What sort of moral example does that send to the rest of the world?"
Ms Sumani's friend Janet Simmons, from Cardiff, saw her last Saturday when she had asked whether she was taking her back with her.
She had explained that Ms Sumani had not sent her the power of attorney needed but now that was in place, she planned to return to sort things out.
Ms Simmons added: "She refused to talk to me after that. All she said is 'it will take too long'."
A South African hospital were sending a breakdown of costs and a UK doctor willing to treat Ms Sumani had been found, said Ms Simmons.
She added: "So when everything was coming together and suddenly she just said she was too tired."
Some of the funds raised for Ms Sumani would go towards a decent burial, she said.
She added: "The rest, I will try and make sure that her children get a proper education because that was the last thing she said to her brother that Aunty Janet and her friends will look after the children for me because we did promise her."
'Sad case'
Lin Homer, chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, said: "This is a sad case, and all of us feel sympathy for her family at this time.
"The circumstances surrounding this case were not unique though.
"The case was carefully considered by trained caseworkers but also through the independent judicial process, which is better and fairer than a decision by me as chief executive or by the minister."
Ms Sumani moved to the UK five years ago to become a student but began working in contravention of her visa regulations.
Diagnosed with malignant myeloma, she had been undergoing dialysis and receiving other drugs in Cardiff.
This belongs to debates.
Dude, what enrages me is that there are MANY people like that lady. Why would only the ones who make it to the media benefit from exceptions?
That's the part I dislike about this mediacracy
Definition of mediacracy : .
(mē'dē-ə-krə-sē )
1. (n.) Government, usually indirectly, by the popular media; often a result of democracy going awry. A system in which politicians stop thinking and begin listening exclusively to the media regarding what the important issues are and what they should do about them.
