Wednesday, Jul 01, 2015
Dubai: An expatriate who has been working in the food and beverage and fashion industry since 2011 has been denied a residence visa because her medical test indicates old tuberculosis (TB) scars. She claims she has never had TB in her life, but a medical panel that examined her report confirmed that the scars on her lungs were from TB.
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the disease is caused by the Myo bacterium Tuberculosis that usually attacks the lungs. It is spread through the air from one person to another. If not treated properly, it can be fatal.
Kyrghyz Elnura Tabaklova, 27, is devastated as she was in the process of a job change and has been in the country for the last five years.
“When I came here for my first job in the food and beverage section of a leading group, my medical test never showed any scars. I changed jobs and went to work for a fashion group in a free zone, still my tests were clear. In 2013 I decided to join a company in Qatar and exited the country. I had a medical examination for the Qatar job, too, which was cleared but I decided against the job as the salary package was less attractive and I re-entered UAE with another job offer. I began work and went for a medical test at the Muhaisnah Health Centre where they told me I would have to exit the country on account of old TB scars. My parents are doctors and I am very well aware of TB. No one in my family has ever had TB and I am surprised by this outcome,” she said.
Tabaklova went to the Iranian Hospital for a second medical test. In her report on Tabaklova, Dr Laili Chamani Tabrez, specialist at the infectious diseases department of Iranian Hospital wrote: “No cough, no sputum, no fever, only positive in the gold quantiferon test [diagnostic tools to diagnose latent TB infection]. The findings are suggestive that there is no active TB.” The doctor has recommended a six-week course of medication. However, when contacted, Dr Tabrez declined to make a comment on the issue to Gulf News.
Another senior physician from the private sector told Gulf News: “Sometimes those who have old TB scars have a higher incidence of getting re-infected. There is a 10 per cent chance of an infection returning and the authorities have to take care to see that they do not infect anyone else. But sometimes other pulmonary infections can mimic TB scars. Sometimes the bacillus that causes pleuritis or pneumonia has been seen to undergo rapid mutation to cause a clinical confusion of the patient having TB. So, if the blood and sputum report is negative, then an antibiotic course of eight weeks can clear the shadow in the lungs.”
A spokesperson of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) told Gulf News: “In the case of this person, after due examinations, a medical committee confirmed it is a case of old TB. The unfit medical certificate was issued in line with the UAE ministerial decree 28/2010 and the UAE Federal law 7/2008 which states that new visas with old TB or active TB are to be considered unfit by law.”
UAE ministerial decree No 28 of 2010 and Federal Law No 7 of 2008 indicate that all newcomers found to have active or old pulmonary TB in a chest X-ray are denied a fitness certificate since they are considered ‘unfit’ for residency.
In the meanwhile, Tabaklova, who has been prescribed treatment, is distressed as the end of the two weeks is close and she fears that if the government health centre does not give her a clean chit she will have to exit the country.
Breaking down, she said, “I can repeat it a million times that I have never had TB but these people will not believe me. I had a car accident a few weeks prior to going for my medical examination. After the accident I had a constant headache which was not going away and someone advised me to get traditional healing done with Al Hijama [traditional method of treatment through cupping]. My headache disappeared but I think that treatment had some contamination which left me with some infection. I am at my wit’s end. I really need this job. My mother has cancer and I have a bank loan that I still have to repay. I was still to get my first salary on this job which, after this report, has not been paid to me. I have no money for even taxi fares to the health clinic. I would like to request the authorities to give me time to do a third medical examination so that I can prove that I have no TB. I need this money and this job and I am being forced to exit the country. Now, I am really not sure what I should do.”
By Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary Senior Reporter
Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.
