London(IANS) : The fate of thousands of doctors of Indian origin will be decided Friday when a London court rules whether or not they are allowed to remain and work in Britain.
The Court of Appeal judgment follows an appeal by the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) against a decision of the high court earlier this year upholding abrupt changes brought about by the government in immigration rules.
“We are very hopeful we will win today, and that resident doctors from outside Europe will then be treated on par with UK graduates,” Sheethal Mathew of BAPIO told IANS.
There were immediate implications of the ruling for Indian doctors, as the next round of recruitment in state health sector – the National Health Service (NHS) – is expected in January and February, Mathew said.
Specifically, the appeal is against directives issues by the Ministry of Health which wants all potential employers – such as hospitals – to prioritise hiring of medical graduates from Britain and Europe over those from other regions who do not have indefinite leave to remain in Britain.
The BAPIO argues that the Indian-origin doctors, who could number around 10,000, hold High Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) visas, which entitles them to work or join a training programme in Britain without obtaining further work permits.
The health ministry guidance, if implemented, would require doctors from outside Europe to apply for work permits – and BAPIO campaigners say concern over such an outcome has already led many Indian-born doctors to leave Britain.
BAPIO is also challenging changes in immigration rules affecting trainee doctors which were implemented without proper notice and consultation and which drastically affected doctors living in Britain who had left their homes and incurred considerable expenditure in the expectation that they would be given the opportunity to apply for posts to train in Britain.
Anthony Robinson, a lawyer representing BAPIO, said: “As is widely acknowledged, the NHS has for many years relied upon the contribution of doctors from overseas, and in particular the Indian sub-continent, in order to provide a quality service in times of shortage of British doctors.
“Now that more British graduates are coming through, the Department of Health is trying to get round the rights of HSMP doctors who have already made Britain their home because it failed to plan ahead.
“This follows similar abrupt changes in the immigration rules that unfairly affected thousands of overseas doctors living in Britain who having once been made welcome now found themselves forced to leave the country without any proper warning. This judgment is awaited anxiously by several thousand doctors working in the NHS whose careers are under threat.”