London, May 30 (IANS) Doctors of Indian origin have initiated legal
action against Britain's health authorities for the recent changes in
employment rules that has threatened the future of thousands of doctors
from the Indian sub-continent and elsewhere.
The legal action was initiated following advice
to the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) that
it had a 'good case'. The changes, the association believes, are unfair
and have been implemented without proper consultation.
'The letters of intent of legal action were sent to the Department of
Health and the Home Office on May 23. After a two-week deadline, the
case will be filed in the High Court', Ramesh Mehta, BAPIO president,
told IANS.
He added: 'The department has been unwilling to respond to the many
protests and has shown no signs of reviewing the ruling. Time is
running out for many thousands of doctors whose visas will run out in
August and will have to leave the country as they do not have another
job.'
The association has launched a drive from its members to raise funds to
mount the legal action against the changes. The changes abolish permit
free training under which thousands of Indian doctors worked in
Britain's National Health Service (NHS).
Under the changes announced earlier this year, doctors from outside
Britain and the EU would be employed on a work permit only if there
were no suitable candidates from these regions. They would no longer be
offered employment under the permit free training scheme.
This has put the medical careers of thousands of doctors from India and
elsewhere, who were already employed in the NHS, at risk. Moreover, it
effectively barred newly qualified Indian doctors from gaining
employment in Britain - unless they had specialised in a field in which
there were no candidates in Britain and EU.
Due to the changes, NHS job advertisements now make it clear that
candidates from outside Britain and EU need not apply since they would
not be considered. Several doctors believe that such advertisements are
unfair.
The British Medical Association's (BMA) international committee
chairman Edwin Borman said: 'The NHS is rapidly losing its
international reputation as a fair employer. Some trusts are
effectively telling doctors not to bother applying for jobs if they're
not European, even if they've worked in Britain for years, or qualified
from a British medical school.'
'It is shabby, it is unfair and in some cases it is discriminatory.'
BMA officials have appealed to the department of health to give a grace
period of two years for overseas doctors to complete their training in
Britain, but this too has been turned down.
Mehta said: 'The sudden implementation of this unjust ruling with no
prior warning is causing immense distress to thousands of doctors and
disrupting their careers.'
Satheesh Mathew, a consultant paediatrician who coordinated a
demonstration in London by over 500 doctors, said: 'A petition signed
by over 6500 doctors demanding the department to change its ruling has
been blatantly ignored. It is regrettable that a government department
had seen it fit to turn a deaf ear to commonsense demands.'
'We are left with no option but to challenge it legally'.
BAPIO has made five recommendations to resolve the impasse:
* Allow those international medical graduates who already are in
Britain with expectations of equal opportunities of training to
continue the permit free training.
* Instruct the NHS Trusts to work within the good code of practice of
Equality Opportunity to regard merit to be the sole criteria for career
progress recruit doctors.
* Treat all those IMGs who have already entered Britain prior to
announcement of the ruling on par with the UK and EU trained doctors.
* Establish an effective mechanism to prevent the mismatch of number
and skills of international medical doctors allowed into Britain and
the needs of the NHS.
* As Employers, NHS organisations should issue an urgent and revised
guidance document, which does not raise any ambiguity or confusion.
© 2006 Indo-Asian News Service | 
