Tom Harwood rages as lawyer defends free private healthcare for illegal migrants as 'a drop in the ocean'

Describing the move as simply a "drop in the ocean", Dr Shoaib Khan told GB News presenters Tom Harwood and Dawn Neesom: "I think we have to understand, considering the budget of healthcare as a whole in this country, this is a drop in the ocean.

"It's a huge, huge amount, but it's probably at 0.005 per cent or something of the NHS budget - and that's just a year."

He further added that one must "bear in mind" that the NHS receives close to £10billion in funds each year as well.

"Secondly, it depends on what other alternatives we have? Do we think these people should be queuing up for our GPs? Wouldn't that, in fact, anger people more?" the lawyer argued.

Taken aback, Tom asked: "Why should these people expect any sort of free health care whatsoever?"

In response, the lawyer said that while the migrants are on British soil, the UK "has to" provide medical care.

"If later we do realise as we do that they're not entitled, then yes, whether they'll have to get sent back."

"Why do we assume all of these people automatically are asylum seekers?" Tom pressed further.

"What I think any reasonable person in this country would suggest is that lots and lots of these people are not genuine asylum seekers, they’re economic migrants."

However, Mr Khan insisted that an asylum seeker simply means that the migrant is "seeking asylum" whether rightly or wrongly.

"This contract is in place when they land here; do we actually treat them? Do we actually diagnose any problems?

"Do we want them going out in public if they have infectious diseases?"

However, rowing back on his argument, Mr Khan admitted that it "wasn't necessarily a great deal for the taxpayer".

He subsequently hit out at the Government's actions over the years, from the eye-wateringly expensive Rwanda scheme to the asylum seeker hotels.

It was revealed by The Sun on Wednesday that Home Office figures signed off a contract with Doctor PA Limited to respond to "urgent healthcare needs of individuals arriving via small boats".

The same firm has already gained experience handling immigration removal centres as well as prisons.

The deal, under current agreements, could be extended until 2035, well past the end of the current Parliament.

"We inherited a crisis at our borders from the Conservatives," a Labour source told The Sun.

"This is the cost of their failure. The Home Secretary will do whatever it takes to secure our borders."

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