Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Apr 18, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Apr 18, 2006 |
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Government - Policy Industry & Economy - Health New UK rule gives Indian docs the ache P.T. Jyothi Datta
What it means Over 15,000 Indian doctors in the UK in different stages of training or waiting to be recruited would be affected. The new rule will affect doctors and dentists since other professions already need a work permit to work and a students' visa to train.
Mumbai , April 17 For young Indian doctors looking to get trained in the UK, the process is set to get a lot more difficult. A new immigration rule is set to kick in this July making it mandatory for a non-European doctor to have a work permit to train at the UK's National Health Service (NHS). And to get the work permit, the employer would have to establish that the vacancy is genuine and could not be filled by a local doctor.
New rules
Ostensibly to protect "home-grown doctors", the new rules have upset Indian and overseas doctors in the UK, who will demonstrate at the UK's Department of Health later this week. Over 15,000 Indian doctors in the UK in different stages of training or waiting to be recruited would be affected, in addition to future doctors seeking training, Dr Satheesh Mathew, a consultant paediatrician with NHS, told Business Line. Dr Mathew, a member of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin , will also lead the over 1,000 doctors from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria. These doctors want authorities to provide relief to doctors undergoing training or trained but unemployed in the UK. Future doctors headed to the UK can be restrained by restricting the numbers taking the exam to as many jobs available in the UK, he said.
The trigger
Part of the trigger for the rule is believed to be the British Medical Association's claim that 30 per cent of UK's doctors are unemployed. Dr Mathew disagrees with this observation. The new rule will affect doctors and dentists since other professions already need a work permit to work and a students' visa to train in the UK, he said. Since doctors from India are qualified professionals, they were allowed to come earlier on a permit-free training (PFT) visa. Also, the UK needed the manpower then, Dr Mathew said. Doctors seeking training in the UK take the PLAB (Professional and Linguistic Board) I & II exams, held in India and the UK respectively. The exams are held daily, round the year (with the exception of Christmas/New Year), he said. The two exams cost about £600. But the UK-leg of the exam will have additional costs such as airfare, staying etc, he said. Dr C.G. Nanda Kumar, consultant anaesthetist with the NHS who will also participate in the demonstration, said: "When a doctor who has finished a part of the training (on a PFT visa) wants to apply for further training, which is a requirement for getting the higher exams, they will have to satisfy work permit requirements, which becomes well nigh impossible in the present setting." "Indian doctors have been the backbone of the UK health structure," said Dr Sanjiv Malik with the Indian Medical Association. When over a dozen Indian hospitals are empanelled with the NHS, the rationale behind the new rule affecting Indian doctors is not clear, he said. Specially so, when the NHS is under-staffed and has long waiting-lists.
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