A SECRET UK government policy to detain people with NHS debt has been deemed unlawful by a court, the Guardian has reported.

The case was brought to the court by two mothers who were repeatedly detained at airports as they tried to re-enter the country after trips abroad to visit family.

The documents presented in the court stated that they had outstanding debts to the NHS — the publicly funded health care system in England — for maternity care.

The women, along with their children, were detained and investigated by UK’s Border Force officials because they were flagged by the Home Office over unpaid debts.

The women who brought the case were from Mali and Albania respectively. The woman from Mali was a survivor of female genital mutilation and had several miscarriages and a stillbirth, leading to mounting debts. The other woman was paying off her NHS debt, according to the Guardian.

The judgement by Justice Chamberlain stated that the plaintiffs were falsely imprisoned by the home secretary without justification, according to the Guardian.

The court had asked the Home Office to confirm and publish the policy, but it refused to do so.

In his ruling, Justice Chamberlain said, “If such a policy is not published, there is a danger that a practice will develop … which can only be discerned by piecing together the accounts given by a large number of individuals to their respective lawyers. The result may be that large numbers of people are unlawfully detained before the practice can be identified and the illegality exposed.”

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2023