"Doctors from India must not come to London nor should they waste �600 on Plab examinations," is the advise of Dr Shiv Pande, the only Asian to have ever held an executive post in the British General Medical Council.

Pande, who had campaigned for the Plab exams to be held in India and was happy when they started, said even those who wish to appear for the MRCP and FRCS first year tests in India should not. "After passing the initial hurdle they have to come here for training before they can appear for the finals. But they won't get any training opportunity and all their efforts and money would go waste," he said.

With new rules coming into force by July 2006, any doctor wishing to apply for postgraduate medical training in the UK will be required to have a work permit. The permits would not be easy to get. To obtain a work permit an employer must show that a vacancy exists which cannot be filled with a resident worker.

In the case of overseas doctors, European Union nationals will get preference.

"Even (Indian) GPs who have listed for training for consultancy jobs are now in difficulty. They would be passed over by EU doctors," Pande said.

This makes it almost impossible for new doctors from India, and even the more than 800 who are already here hoping to get a training assignment, to work here. "They will have to pack up and go once their visa expires," said Pande.

A diplomat said such moves would only affect Indo-British relations. "India might be the most important and crucial member in the Commonwealth, the jewel in its crown, but Indian nationals would find it increasingly difficult to get even training, forget about a job in the UK," he added.

At present, 117,036 overseas doctors are working in the National Health Service. Of these, 16,000 are of Indian origin.



Future tense for Indian doctors in Britain - Times of India
LONDON: Thousands of Indian doctors in Britain are at risk of becoming "illegal aliens" here with the insidious premature application of a controversial new law on work permits for non-European Union (EU) medical professionals.

The new law, technically meant to come into force in July, will henceforth require non-EU doctors to possess valid British work permits in order to enter the country.

The law, which no longer deems it sufficient for non-EU doctors to have passed preliminary British tests like PLAB to certify their competence and expertise, was announced by health minister Lord Warner recently.

The minister admitted that the UK had finally realised it must draw on a glut of home-grown and European doctors, instead of filling vacancies with "international" applicants, the majority of whom belong to South Asia.

On Monday, Indian doctors across the country reported that the law appears to be "already in use�by the back door" with British hospital trusts using the start date of April 1 to reject South Asian job applicants on the grounds that they must first look within UK or EU medical ranks.

Leading British Indian doctors say the legislative change slams the door shut on both junior and senior Indian doctors, who will no longer be able to enter Britain to work or get practical training in specialist disciplines or to sit important exams such as the FRCS or FRCP.

Dr Shiv Pande, who was till recently the head of the 7,000-strong British International Doctors Association (BIDA), criticised the government for dispensing with all notions of "democracy, fairplay, openness and consultation by failing to discuss the intended change with organisations such as BIDA".

He said the legal change was sensible only in that it would prevent hundreds of unemployed Indian doctors from starving on the streets here, after sitting expensive PLAB exams to enter the country.

He added, "But that does not mean you make it so difficult for all Indian doctors to enter Britain and turn them into illegal aliens".

Doctors say the rule was pushed through so quickly that it puts huge numbers of medical students in a limbo.

Dr Ramesh Mehta, consultant paediatrician, and president of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, estimates that there are currently about 15,000 doctors of Indian origin in training posts in the UK.



British work permit rule hits Indian doctors - Economic Times
LONDON: Panic has set in among thousands of doctors from the Indian subcontinent after new rules that came into effect made work permits mandatory for non-EU doctors to work in the National Health Service. So far doctors from outside the EU, including from India, were able to take up NHS jobs under what was called �permit-free training� schemes. Their jobs were considered part of training that did not require work permits. Thousands of Indian doctors were employed under the permit-free training scheme and were usually hired for short-term periods of one or two years. From Monday, April 3, employers need to obtain work permits before employing these doctors after making a case to prove that no British or EU doctor can perform the same job. This rule effectively rules out any chance of employment for non-EU doctors.



Work permit rule hits Indian doctors in Britain - Tribune
Panic has set in among thousands of doctors from the Indian subcontinent after new rules that came into effect made work permits mandatory for non-European Union doctors to work in the National Health Service (NHS).

So far doctors from outside the EU, including from India, were able to take up NHS jobs under what was called ��permit free training�� schemes. Their jobs were considered part of training that did not require work permits.

Thousands of Indian doctors were employed under the permit free training scheme and were usually hired for short-term periods of one or two years.

The doctors would need to find new posts after their term expired.

From Monday, April 3, employers now need to obtain work permits before employing these doctors after making a case to prove that no British or EU doctor can perform the same job. This rule effectively rules out any chance of employment for non-EU doctors.

The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), with a membership of over 25,000, is planning a protest outside the Department of Health here later this month.

A senior doctor of Indian origin told IANS that the employment situation for Indian doctors was anyway very difficult, with thousands of them unemployed and reduced to living in miserable conditions and availing themselves of free food served in temples and gurdwaras in London and other parts of Britain.

The new rules will adversely affect those who had managed to find work in the NHS. He said for even minor jobs, applications from highly qualified doctors were received in thousands.

Health Minister Lord Warner said: ��We now have more than 117,000 doctors working in the NHS, 27,400 more than in 1997, as well as record levels of doctors in training in UK medical schools.

��This investment and expansion, coupled with the reform of medical education, is leading to increased competition for medical posts as vacancy rates fall,�� the Minister said.

��There is therefore no longer a need for a specific category in the Immigration Rules to enable doctors and dentists to train in the UK for many years��. � IANS