By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS
London : A group representing Indian-origin doctors working in Britain Thursday welcomed a move by the government to close training places for doctors from India and other countries outside Europe.
But it also expressed concern that the new rules announced by the Home Office could disadvantage a small number of India-born doctors who are already in Britain on work permits rather than High Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) visas.
The British government, which has been under sustained attack over immigration, announced that from March doctors living outside the European Union region will not be eligible to apply for posts through the HSMP.
And from April 1, skilled Indian doctors – so-called Tier 1 migrants – will no longer be able to apply for higher medical training posts under a new points-based immigration system.
However, those Indian doctors who are already in Britain under the HSMP scheme would be able to apply for training and jobs and treated at par with British and European applicants, the government said Wednesday.
The new restrictions overturn a tradition, going back more than 50 years, of successive British governments encouraging foreign-born and -trained doctors to migrate to Britain and help run its National Health Service.
Forty-six percent of doctors registered with the General Medical Council in Britain were trained abroad – mostly in India, Pakistan, South Africa and Australia. But Indian doctors settled in Britain welcomed the government move.
“We welcome the step, but advance notice of these changes must be given to those to applicants,” said Satheesh Mathew, vice chairperson of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO).
“This should have happened four years ago. We don’t have enough training posts and our UK doctors should have opportunities,” added BAPIO President Ramesh Mehta.
However, BAPIO members expressed concern that a “small minority of doctors” – said to number around 1,000 – will be disadvantaged.
These are doctors who came to Britain on work permits, rather than HSMP visas. The introduction of HSMP visas has left many of them in a lurch. While some are waiting to convert to HSMP visas, there is likelihood that those who get HSMP visas after Feb 29 will not be considered at par with British and European doctors.
That could mean that employers would, by law, have to give precedence to European and British applicants for a job or training post before considering those on work permits.
The new rules are expected cut the number of potential applicants for training posts by 3,000 to 5,000 by 2009. However, even this cut is not considered enough to guarantee a job to all British medicine graduates who are good to enough to get jobs.
As a result, the government estimates that 700 to 1,100 such British graduates will be denied jobs in 2009 and beyond.
Medical schools in Britain are thought to be among the finest in the world and the government move follows the expansion of the European Union, which now has 27 member states.
The move is aimed at striking a balance between Britain’s commitments to its European partners and ensuring that the majority of those Indian doctors who are already in Britain are not affected.
However, Hamish Meldrum, chairperson of the British Medical Association Council, said: “This is a confusing move, which seems to achieve little apart from adding to the uncertainty for overseas doctors in the NHS.”