By IANS
Sydney : The Indian doctor arrested at Brisbane Airport in connection with the UK terror plot has been identified as Mohammed Haneef.
Indian High Commissioner to Australia Prabhat Shukla said: "We are closely following developments in the case. We are in touch with Australian authorities and have sought consular access to the person in detention."
Haneef, 27, lived a few blocks away from the hospital in an apartment with his wife, who is already in India.
The manager of the Gold Coast apartment block Steve Bosher said, "I never saw him with anyone, and he was very quiet."
Documents obtained by the Courier-Mail in Brisbane reveal Haneef began working as senior house officer at Gold Coast Hospital in September 2006. According to his registration record, he graduated from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in Bangalore in 2002.
Australian Doctors Trained Overseas Association (ADTOA) CEO Ronald Pepper told IANS: "Indian doctors are generally very well regarded. They have a long history, more so than any other culture or nationality. This incident doesn't change the perception of Australians towards Indian doctors."
ADTOA spokesperson Andrew Schwartz said that 40 percent of all doctors in Australia were overseas trained and almost 15 percent of overseas trained doctors in Australia are Indians. He said: "People should not look at all overseas trained doctors, including Indians, with suspicion."
Australian Medical Association Queensland President Ross Cartmill has urged the community to remain calm and allow police to do their job, until charges are laid.
Cartmill said: "There is no justification for any universal negativity towards International Medical Graduates (IMG), who are an integral part of the medical profession in this state – and indeed the rest of the country – and many are leaders in their field.
"In many areas throughout Australia, communities and hospitals rely upon IMGs to provide their medical care and this contribution cannot go unrecognised. If these accusations are found to be true, it is extremely disappointing for the profession," he added.