This is an invitation for you to join us at our Public Event on Saturday 13th July at 2pm in East London. Register for the event now!
We will tell our story, hear from health workers, local campaigners and power holders about the impact of border controls in the NHS, and connect with other families who have faced similar hostility. Together, we will share experience, expertise and practical tools for resistance, and build power in East London to change this unjust system for migrants and refugees.
The ‘Justice for Omisha’ campaign was started to end our NHS bill of £76,000 that was charged by our local hospital for my daughter’s life-saving treatment. Omisha was only 10 months old when she was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer called Hepatoblastoma. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she was accommodated at our local hospital after receiving chemotherapy. After just a month of hospital stay we received a call from our local hospital’s overseas officer about the NHS bill. Then the calls and the bills kept coming with threats if we did not pay.
Due to our visa process with the Home office, we were not allowed to work, study or apply for any public funds and benefits. Our family and close friends were the only ones supporting us financially and emotionally. We faced the harsh government policy of the Hostile Environment and lost hope from government bodies and local authorities.
There was only one choice and that was to publicly tell our story. We were overwhelmed when we started receiving support and powerful comments from people who were against NHS charging for migrants.
When we lost our hope, we found a companion; a team of people who supported us and helped us launch the ‘Justice for Omisha’ campaign. Together we started our petition to cancel our NHS bill and end all Hostile Environment policies in the NHS and beyond.
With your support, we have achieved our campaign's biggest win, which is that the CEO from the hospital wrote us the letter to promise that they would not pursue the debt in the future. Since then we have only seen victory, hope, solidarity, companionship, love and care from the people around the nation. We were nominated for the ‘David & Goliath’ 2024 award by the SMK foundation and eventually won the Award in that category.
However, due to the harsh government policy for migrants and refugees, the Home Office hasn’t cancelled our debt from their records, which means the debt still stands and it can be reinstated once our financial circumstances change. Many other people continue to be charged huge bills for their healthcare. So, our fight is not over: it needs to spread its wings to a greater extent so that we can challenge the Government itself.
For this, we need your support to build that strong foundation to question and challenge the government to change the law for migrants and refugees, and to make the NHS truly universal. We would like to invite you all to join this fight with us and build the power of people together to eradicate the unjust system of the Hostile Environment. I believe that together we can change the system and become the voice of the voiceless.
Join us on 13th July to find out how you can join the fight against migrant charging and hostile immigration controls in East London!