PTI
 
London, Apr 9: About 300 doctors of Indian origin plan to hold a demonstration outside Britain’s Department of Health in London on April 21 to protest against new rules to be introduced from July making work permits mandatory for non-EU medical practitioners to work in the National Health Service (NHS).

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

The protest demonstration is being organised by the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), with a membership of over 25,000.

Buddhdev Pandya, honorary corporate advisor of BAPIO, said that the new rule would affect over 4,000 doctors, many of whom have families in the UK and they would not be eligible to get jobs even if vacancies occur.

With the new rules coming into force from July 2006, any doctor wishing to apply for postgraduate medical training in the UK will be required to have a work permit.

The permits will 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 doctor.

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," Dr Shiv Pande, the only Asian to have ever held an executive post in the British General Medical Council, said.

"This makes it almost impossible for new doctors from India [to get a job] and even the 800 and odd unemployed Indian doctors who are already here hoping to get a training assignment will now have to pack up and go once their visa expires," Pande said.

At present 117,036 overseas doctors including 16,000 NRI doctors are working in the Government-funded National Health Service.

The new work permit rule has evoked criticism not only from overseas doctors, but also from British medical experts. It is termed a blow to "meritocracy", as hospitals would have to give preference to "sons-of-the-soil" over better-qualified foreign applicants.

Health Minister Lord Warner has justified the changes, citing growing competition for medical jobs in the NHS.

"We want to ensure that non-EU doctors are recruited where we have a genuine skills shortage. NHS Trusts will be required to get a work permit for every doctor that they wish to employ from outside the EU.

"In future, International Medical Graduates who wish to work or train in the NHS will need a work permit. To obtain one, an employer must show that genuine vacancy exists, which cannot be filled with a resident worker," he said.

At the same time, Lord Warner said the Government recognised the huge contribution made by foreign doctors to the NHS.