UK hospital seeking dues from patients in India, US, SArabia By Prasun Sonwalkar

London, Jan 14 (PTI) A hospital in Nottingham is
seeking to recover thousands of pounds from patients from
India and other countries, who were treated during their
visits to the UK.

Payment is due to the Nottingham University Hospitals
(NUH) Trust from 45 patients from India, the USA, Zimbabwe,
Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the Virgin Islands.

The outstanding amount is 37,000 pounds, the bulk of
which is related to people treated as emergencies who then
underwent follow up treatments.

The patients reportedly returned back to their
countries of origin before hospital officials had a chance to
track down their payments.

In total, the hospital has issued invoices for 202,462
pounds in the past year - and 37,091 pounds of that remains
outstanding, reports from Nottingham said.

The Trust said it regularly reviewed its debts and has
employed overseas debt enforcement agencies to help it recoup
the money. But in the past three years it had to write off
63,155 pounds which proved too difficult to trace.

National Health Service regulations state that
emergency treatment is free to everyone, irrespective whether
they are British or not.

However, if they then need follow up treatment in
other parts of the hospital and do not meet one of a number of
criteria such as full-time student or EU passport holder, fees
may apply.

A spokesman for the trust said, "NUH uses a debt
collection agency which has overseas offices and capability.

"We also, on occasion, register the debt with the
British Embassy in the debtor's home country, which can mean
those individuals who haven't paid could be refused a visa to
re-enter the UK."

He said debts were only written off as a "last resort"
and that this was usually two or three years down the line -
when the cost of chasing the debt would exceed the debt
itself. PTI CORR
AM