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Foreign doctors to pay for “bad apples” Out of London

Hasan Suroor

Despite occasional complaints of racial discrimination and the continuing row over new immigration rules, which discriminate against doctors from outside the European Union, overseas doctors have had a relatively smooth time compared to other immigrants. But all that is likely to change in the aftermath of last week’s failed terror plot, allegedly hatched and executed by foreign doctors, including a few bad apples from India.

First, of course, there is a fear of a public backlash as people, especially closet xenophobes, will be wary of putting their lives in the hands of those who, they fear, could be terrorists in white coats.

The trust, so crucial to the patient-doctor relationship, has been put to test by last week’s events. Muslim doctors are particularly worried and a spokesman for the Federation of Student Islamic Societies said: “If a doctor is identifiable as a Muslim because of their beard or hijab, we’re worried that the trust between them and a patient could be compromised.”

Then there is the more important issue of security reflected in the calls for tougher vetting procedures for foreign doctors. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ordered a review of how the National Health Service (NHS) recruits doctors from abroad. He wants the NHS to “expand” background checks on overseas applicants.

This despite the insistence of the NHS Employers — the body that represents NHS trusts — that the current procedure is already robust enough. The Employers said hospitals carried out “rigorous checks” before they appointed any staff member. These included “verification of identity, qualifications, registration and eligibility to work in the U.K.”

There is concern that singling out foreign doctors for a tougher regime could be seen as discriminatory and spark a legal challenge as happened after the introduction of new immigration rules last year requiring doctors from outside the EU to obtain work permits. It is particularly bad news for some 10,000 Indian doctors already struggling to find jobs following changes in immigration rules.

Ramesh Mehta, president of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, said the proposed review was “worrying” and likely to fuel the anxiety among overseas doctors.

“Covert discrimination will begin even before the review is complete. For the Prime Minister to stand up in Parliament and say that there need to be more rigorous checks on foreign doctors is enough for employers to get the message,” he said.

At present, background checks do not include the applicants’ religious beliefs or political allegiances. But given that all those alleged to have been involved in the London-Glasgow plot are Muslims, there is speculation that in future religion and nationality might also be looked at when running “background” checks. “There is no doubt that life for overseas Muslim doctors is going to become more difficult — and even harder for those from India and certain Middle Eastern countries,” one commentator said.

Britain’s medical community is shaken — and aghast — that doctors, who are sworn to save lives, should have been involved in a murderous enterprise. “Such an act flies in the face of all that a doctor stands for,” one Indian doctor said denouncing the alleged culprits as “evil people who should not be allowed anywhere near a hospital.”

British Medical Association chairman Edwin Borman called it a “betrayal” of medical ethics. But he warned against tarring all foreign doctors with the same brush pointing out that that the NHS had benefited from doctors from abroad.

Dr. Mehta, too, hoped the public would recognise the contribution of overseas doctors and not jump to conclusions. “I hope the British public have common sense to know that overseas doctors have done extremely well for the NHS over the last 50 years,” he said dismissing the alleged suspects as “bad apples” the likes of which could be found in any profession.

Meanwhile, up in Scotland, particularly Glasgow, people are struggling to come to terms with last week’s events. It is said about Glasgow that the only “sectarian divide” it knows is the rivalry between the supporters of its two main football clubs, Rangers and Celtic. Passionate demonstrations of football extremism, aplenty. But Islamist fundamentalism? No, Glasgow doesn’t do that. It has a thriving and well-adjusted immigrant population with no history of racial or religious discord.

“There has not been a peep of extremism in Scotland to date. You hear about individuals and groups in London and elsewhere in England, but there has been no presence of this here,” said a spokesman of the Muslim Association of Britain.

What’s true of Glasgow is true of the rest of Scotland. Its 50,000-strong Asian community, with a large Muslim component, is held up as a model of “integration” for immigrants elsewhere in the United Kingdom. As The Tim es noted, Scotland’s Asian community has been so completely “absorbed into Scottish culture” that its “accents, attitudes and sporting allegiances have become indistinguishable from those of the natives.”

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