Woman with terminally-ill daughter disallowed home quarantine in UK

A WOMAN has criticised the UK health authorities for making her undergo quarantine with her terminally-ill daughter in a hotel room unsuitable for their needs, instead of allowing them home isolation.

Sabiha Wasim said she visited Pakistan with Umaiza, 13, for a "respite". However, upon their return, they became “more depressed” because of their quarantine at a hotel room where the teenager developed bedsores.

Wasim said her backache also aggravated as she had to carry her daughter to the ensuite, something she could have managed better at home. The mother said she largely stayed home at Colwyn Bay, North Wales, looking after Umaiza since the outbreak of the pandemic last year and said, “it took a toll on me”.

She decided to take her daughter to Pakistan where she has a house and an extended family, she told North Wales Live.

They flew to Pakistan in March after consulting her paediatrician and were scheduled to return on May 19, but the UK government added Pakistan to the travel red list, forcing her to delay her return by a month.

Wasim said she asked the UK Test and Trace if Umaiza, who is suffering from life-limiting mitochondrial disease, could be exempt from hotel quarantine rules but said the response was not encouraging.

Umaiza, who is severely epileptic and PEG-fed, has a feeding tube in her stomach and requires special milk.

"After getting evidence from her specialist in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and from her paediatrician here in Bodelwyddan to describe her medical condition and need to quarantine at home, all I kept getting was they needed more evidence," she said.

They returned to the UK on June 20.

"We weren’t allowed out (of their hotel room) and the windows were locked. After being in the same bed all day and night, Umaiza developed horrendous bedsores and severe leg pain.”

"Even though I suffer terribly from severe backache, I had to carry her to and from the toilet each time on my own which could've easily been avoided,” Wasim said.

She said it was a nightmare for 10 days and “we became even more depressed” because of the quarantine.

There was no comment from the government.