UK Medical Bodies Criticize Govt’s Visa Rules Limiting Hiring of Foreign Doctors

Organizations responsible for training and registration of doctors for work in the United Kingdom are criticizing the UK Home Office over visa rules that are constraining efforts to employ overseas doctors.

The General Medical Council (GMC) of United Kingdom cautioned that it could see a huge hike in the number of doctors who were willing to work in the United Kingdom, but many of them are facing struggle to obtain visas to enter the country, the Independent reported.

Organizations like the GMC and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) have condemned the government after reports emerged that UK Prime Minister Theresa May had rejected pleas of the Cabinet to recruit more overseas doctors to fill in the gap in UK’s National Health Service.

The GMC “expects more than 5,000 doctors” outside of the European Union (EU) to take language and competency tests in 2018. This is an increase of 66 per cent as compared to the 2,966 doctors who took these tests in 2017. In order to work in the United Kingdom, doctors have to be in the medical register maintained by the GMC, the Independent reported.

Those who are coming from nations outside the European Union need to pass a strict language test as well as competency test, along with their visa requirements. GMC pointed out that the NHS “relies on the expertise of doctors from overseas,” according to the report.

“It is frustrating that while one government department is working hard to recruit doctors into an overstretched health service, another is enforcing eligibility conditions which stifle those efforts,” GMC chief executive Charlie Massey was quoted as saying by the publication.

RCP president Prof. Jane Dacre wrote to May, asking her to give an explanation regarding her argument on the need for more doctors to ensure safe staffing levels for patient care.

“Given the length of time it takes to train a doctor, the NHS will need to continue to recruit doctors from overseas to meet patient need in the short-term,” Dacre wrote in her letter, according to the report. She also called for more reforms in a bid to attract more doctors.

“We therefore need to devise a system allowing the NHS to recruit enough shortage specialities, whilst also having the flexibility to bring in doctors who work in other specialities when there is a requirement,” the letter stated, the report said.

The Home office recently faced backlash from health chiefs when reports emerged that 100 Indian doctors who had been recruited for 30 NHS trusts in the north west of England were not allowed entry to the United Kingdom. “We have examples of clinics being cancelled and delays in terms of patients receiving care. It exacerbates pressures in what are relatively small medical teams,” Danny Mortimer, the chief executive of NHS Employers, was quoted as saying by BBC earlier.