08-11-2007, 02:00 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Does Britain want Indian doctors out? </b>
Pioneer.com
Nandini Jawli | London
They face competence inquiry despite years of practice in UK
Indian doctors alongside other overseas doctors are being investigated for competence to practice in Britain's National Health Service (NHS). They are facing competence inquiry, following an increasing number of complaints registered with the General Medical Council (GMC). The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (Bapio) calls it 'prejudice against overseas doctors.'
<b>The GMC inquiry comes at a time when foreign doctors are subject to further checks in the wake of the recent foiled terror attacks in London and Glasgow. </b>Prime Minister Gordon Brown had pledged to tighten checks on overseas trained medical staff, after three NHS doctors were charged in connection with the blasts.
The junior doctors from India are already struggling to get jobs in the NHS, as they contest the new rules, giving preference to doctors from European Union.
According to figures given by The Times, the number rose three times in 2006 of foreign-trained doctors, who were struck off the medical register.
More than 5,000 cases were dealt with by the GMC in 2006. Around 303 of these cases, culminated in fitness-to-practice hearings and 54 doctors were struck off. Of these, nearly two thirds- 35 doctors, had trained outside the UK.
GMC has given a notice of inquiry to sixteen doctors this week, seven are from South Asia. This month's fitness to practice hearing by the GMC has involved at least five doctors of Indian origin.
Dr Ramesh Mehta, Bapio president told The Pioneer that the number of cases against Indian doctors is on the rise. "I think it is more to do with prejudice and discrimination against them," Mehta further tells, "The complaints mostly involve junior doctors from India and most of the cases are minor issues like communication related errors or mistakes in writing notes."
He points out that the number of cases reported to the GMC, which involve Indian doctors come not from patients but mainly from professional sources, often within the NHS.
Mehta said, "We are extremely worried that there is a broad climate of discrimination in the management, many of whom appear to take it for granted that overseas-trained doctors are somehow inferior and not up to the job."
<b>The British Medical Association said that the pattern might be accounted for by a culture of institutional racism within the NHS.</b>
<b>Some 16,000 doctors recruited from South Asia mainly from India are facing the non-renewal of both contracts and visas now that demand for their services is no longer acute. They face the risk to be used to support claims that foreign medical training is somehow inadequate</b>.
Now GMC has commissioned seven research projects, which will cover issues including the competence of foreign doctors and whether they are subject to institutional racism within the health service. The academics will investigate how doctors come to work in the UK and which of them might present a particular risk to patients.Â
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Pioneer.com
Nandini Jawli | London
They face competence inquiry despite years of practice in UK
Indian doctors alongside other overseas doctors are being investigated for competence to practice in Britain's National Health Service (NHS). They are facing competence inquiry, following an increasing number of complaints registered with the General Medical Council (GMC). The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (Bapio) calls it 'prejudice against overseas doctors.'
<b>The GMC inquiry comes at a time when foreign doctors are subject to further checks in the wake of the recent foiled terror attacks in London and Glasgow. </b>Prime Minister Gordon Brown had pledged to tighten checks on overseas trained medical staff, after three NHS doctors were charged in connection with the blasts.
The junior doctors from India are already struggling to get jobs in the NHS, as they contest the new rules, giving preference to doctors from European Union.
According to figures given by The Times, the number rose three times in 2006 of foreign-trained doctors, who were struck off the medical register.
More than 5,000 cases were dealt with by the GMC in 2006. Around 303 of these cases, culminated in fitness-to-practice hearings and 54 doctors were struck off. Of these, nearly two thirds- 35 doctors, had trained outside the UK.
GMC has given a notice of inquiry to sixteen doctors this week, seven are from South Asia. This month's fitness to practice hearing by the GMC has involved at least five doctors of Indian origin.
Dr Ramesh Mehta, Bapio president told The Pioneer that the number of cases against Indian doctors is on the rise. "I think it is more to do with prejudice and discrimination against them," Mehta further tells, "The complaints mostly involve junior doctors from India and most of the cases are minor issues like communication related errors or mistakes in writing notes."
He points out that the number of cases reported to the GMC, which involve Indian doctors come not from patients but mainly from professional sources, often within the NHS.
Mehta said, "We are extremely worried that there is a broad climate of discrimination in the management, many of whom appear to take it for granted that overseas-trained doctors are somehow inferior and not up to the job."
<b>The British Medical Association said that the pattern might be accounted for by a culture of institutional racism within the NHS.</b>
<b>Some 16,000 doctors recruited from South Asia mainly from India are facing the non-renewal of both contracts and visas now that demand for their services is no longer acute. They face the risk to be used to support claims that foreign medical training is somehow inadequate</b>.
Now GMC has commissioned seven research projects, which will cover issues including the competence of foreign doctors and whether they are subject to institutional racism within the health service. The academics will investigate how doctors come to work in the UK and which of them might present a particular risk to patients.Â
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