They have initiated legal action against the recent changes in employment rules that threaten the future of non-European doctors.
LONDON: 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 non-European doctors.
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, said. 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 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.
The British Medical Association’s (BMA) international committee chairman Edwin Borman said: “The NHS is rapidly losing its international reputation as a fair employer. 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. Satheesh Mathew, a pediatrician who coordinated a demonstration in London, said: “A petition signed by over 6500 doctors has been blatantly ignored. It is regrettable that the department has turned a deaf ear to commonsense demands.”
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