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Work visas: U.K. decision soon on overseas doctors

Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI: Britain will soon decide whether to appeal against a court ruling that stayed a government order disallowing hospitals from awarding work visas to overseas doctors unless it was proved that there was no other suitable candidate from Britain or a European Zone country, according to British High Commissioner Richard Stagg.

The issue is likely to figure in talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his British counterpart Gordon Brown, who is arriving here on Sunday on a two-day visit.

“The issue is how to allow Indian doctors to gradually decline in numbers. Consultations are on about a legal case in which the courts have ruled in favour of the doctors. We are close to the end of consultations and the government has to decide whether to appeal against the court order or not,” he said on Friday.

At stake is the future of 5,000 Indian doctors, who may be forced to leave without specialised training if the 2006 Home Office rules are implemented. Also, access for Indians to British medical institutions will be much more restricted in future, especially for sub-specialist training in a number of disciplines, which is not available in India. The British government amended the employment rules in medicine following a shortage of posts together with a big increase in the number of British medical graduates.

“There is, therefore, no longer a need for a specific category in the immigration rules to enable doctors and dentists to train in the U.K. for many years,” the Home Office had reasoned.

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