At least 16,000 doctors from the Indian subcontinent, and at least 80 per cent of them from India, have no option but to go back home.
LONDON: An Asian doctor was driven to commit suicide when he couldn't get work in the UK after the government changed its immigration rules last year that now means at least 16,000 doctors from the Indian subcontinent, and at least 80 per cent of them from India, find themselves on the scrap heap with no option but to go back home.
Twenty-eight year old Imran Yousaf was found hanging in a room in a surgery in Bedford, South England last month. Dr Yousaf came to the UK in 2004 from a village just outside of Lahore to complete his medical training and then build a career in the National Health Service.
He had taken a huge family loan to enable him to come to Britain that he hoped to repay with his earnings here. But this was not to be.
Instead Yousaf found himself unemployed, in debt and surviving on handouts from friends, and since March last year he was not even allowed to apply for jobs because of the new immigration rules. Unable to afford the rent for his flat, Yousaf slept on the floor of a pizza shop. His friends provided him with a room in a doctor’s surgery which is where he finally committed suicide. Found near his dead body was the letter from the Home Office that rejected an extension of his visa to allow him to continue living in Britain.
“I still find it difficult to believe that such a bright, young man was pushed to take his own life,” said Dr Rajendra Chaudhary, legal advisor to the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) which has been leading the fight to have the new immigration rules reviewed.
“He was under enormous pressure and ultimately this ruthless law broke his back. I cannot blame him. I blame the government and the judiciary. The cold and insensitive establishment which drove him to do it,” said Dr Chaudhary. He had first met Yousaf in June 2006 when the young doctor put himself forward as co-claimant on BAPIO’s case for review in the High Court.
The High Court has finally rejected their demand for a review and BAPIO has decided to appeal the verdict.
But meanwhile thousands of Asian doctors are living under incredible financial and emotional stress and some have already packed their bags and returned home. Dr Chaudhary prays no more doctors are forced to follow Yousaf’s example.
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