A pilot scheme to fill the gap in emergency medical services in UK, India

An Indian doctors association in the UK and health authorities in Maharashtra are launching a novel pilot scheme that, if successful, could help the two countries fill crucial gaps in their acute and emergency medical services.

Under the programme, run by the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), doctors from Maharashtra will be recruited for a special scheme that will place them for two years in the emergency department of Birmingham’s Heartlands hospital. Though the two-year visa scheme (the Tier 5 ‘Medical Training Initiative’) has existed for a number of years now, it has held little appeal for doctors from India and other non EU countries, but the pilot will combine it with training, and recognition by exam board authorities in India, which they hope will make it appealing to experienced doctors. Organisers believe the scheme will help tackle problems in both countries: British hospitals have struggled to fill emergency and acute medical positions, while best practice from the NHS’ well developed emergency medical services could help Indian hospitals develop in this field too.

Ever since a tightening of visa rules for non-EU doctors coming to the UK in 2007, Britain’s National Health Service has struggled to fill permanent positions in a number of medical fields.

“Acute and emergency services have been badly hit by this move,” says Dr Raghuraman Govindan, associate medical director at the Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham where the pilot will take place. The hospital has had to rely on expensive locum doctors — a costly thing for NHS Trusts across the country at a time when budgets have been under pressure. Under the programme, doctors recruited in India will undergo a three-month training scheme run by BAPIO to prepare them for the culture and organisation of NHS emergency departments, and will receive support throughout their two-year stint in the UK. Significantly their work in the UK will subsequently get postgraduate recognition by the National Board of Examinations in India. “The Medical Training Initiative has existed for some time but has not been utilised in the way we are going to utilise it,” says Dr Ramesh Mehta, President of BAPIO.

While initially the programme will bring around 10 doctors to the country, they hope to extend it further, to help hospitals across the country plug the emergency medicine gap.

While the initial focus will be on Maharashtra, BAPIO is in discussions with authorities in Haryana and Karnataka too. “This will be good for local [UK] hospitals who can provide a better service, and in return we hope it will help emergency medicine in India, which is very nascent compared to the UK — its not just about treating patients but how departments are run — and these doctors will learn both to run departments and provide a good quality of care.”

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