Indian doctors already there will not be affected
Britain to end dependence on foreign doctors
LONDON: Starting next month, foreign doctors from outside the European Union will not be allowed to come to Britain for training under new rules aimed at protecting the interests of home-grown medical graduates.
But an estimated 10,000 overseas doctors — mostly from India — who are already here will not be affected. They won a court ruling last year against a Health Department guidance that would have given preference to locally-trained doctors and those from the E.U.
The government has challenged the ruling and a decision is expected in May.
The new rules will replace the practice of recruiting doctors from India and other Commonwealth countries with a “sons-of-the-soil” policy giving preference to domestic medical graduates and those from the E.U.
This follows a sharp increase in the number of qualified doctors coming out of Britain’s own medical schools thus ending the shortage that forced the National Health Service to recruit doctors from abroad.
Health Secretary Alan Johnson said that with enough doctors of its own, Britain wanted to move towards “self-sufficiency” and end its dependence on foreign doctors.
“It can cost up to £250,000 to train a U.K. medical student. With the increase in U.K. medical schools we are moving to a policy of self-sufficiency. If U.K. medical graduates cannot access specialist training because of a large number of applicants from outside Europe, then it is only right we should consider what needs to be done,” he said.
Decision welcomed
The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), which has successfully campaigned against new rules being applied to the doctors who are already training in Britain, welcomed the new policy, but the British Medical Association expressed reservations saying it would affect the prospects of overseas doctors.
Dr. Ramesh Mehta, BAPIO president, said it was necessary to “regulate” the entry of international graduates as the number of training places were limited.
“We have been lobbying for the last five years asking the government to take action to limit the number of international medical graduates entering the U.K. This is necessary since there are limited places for post-graduate training. This is in the best interests of both U.K. doctors and IMGs,” he said.
Raman Lakshman, its vice-chair, said BAPIO while campaigning for Indian doctors, had always highlighted the need to protect U.K. graduates.
“We have been clear that while we want fairness for international medical graduates, it is necessary to regulate the entry of overseas doctors so that U.K. graduates are not disadvantaged,” he said.