The UK has launched a new placement scheme to bring in doctors from India to plug shortages in the emergency departments of its state-funded National Health Service.
The first set of 20 Indian doctors will be brought in to Manchester in northern England this year to help out in the region's eight Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments.
Their placement is expected to run for up to three years, with the scheme also likely to be extended to other regions of the country.
It is being operated by the Greater Manchester devolution team and Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Foundation Trust and backed by the Health Education England (HEE), the Department of Health body in charge of education and training.
"HEE, through its Global Health Exchange, is pleased to be helping to support the training and development of overseas doctors by placing them in clinical educational programmes in hospitals in the UK," Ged Byrne, Director of Education and Quality at HEE - North West, told PTI.
"This work is helping to increase the number of doctors who are available to support acutely ill patients. The relationship benefits both the UK as it helps to fill an immediate need and the doctors themselves who gain access to high quality training and a unique skills set," he said.
The doctors who will have access to the scheme include those who have completed their basic training but are still learning specialist skills and have yet to qualify as a consultant.
After a three-year period, they are expected to return to Indian hospitals.
Dr Ramesh Mehta, president of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), the UK's largest representative body for Indian-origin doctors, believes it is a win-win situation for both sides.
"Emergency medicine is at a nascent stage in India and under this win-winsituation, the NHS (National Health Service) gets qualified doctors to meet shortages and the Indian doctors get mentoring and training in the UK," he said.
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Last year, BAPIO had facilitated a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) between the Heart of England, NHS, Foundation Trust in Birmingham and the Maharashtra government to initially bring 10 doctors from India to train in emergency medicine in the UK under a similar scheme.
The NHS had historically turned to the Indian sub- continent during severe staff shortages in the 1960s and early 2000s to increase the headcount of doctors. But the changing visa regime over the years has seen a considerable drop in the number of Indian doctors in the UK, from around 10,265 in 2009 to 6,880 in 2015.
The UK Migration Advisory Committee recommended last year for a new Resident Labour Market Test to ensure UK and European workers are given priority for skilled jobs which means Indian medical graduates will be eligible to apply for higher training posts within the only once most vacancies are already filled up.
The move has been widely criticised at a time when the NHS has been facing severe staff shortages.
"In real life, these proposals are unlikely to work properly. The UK needs professional staff in the healthcare field as there is a huge shortage of doctors and nurses in the country. This move will cause chaos for the NHS, besides being unfair on doctors from overseas," Mehta said.
The NHS crisis is currently dominating the UK politics with British Prime Minister Theresa May clashing with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn in the House of Commons over the issue.
A report by the Commons Health Select Committee has warned that A&E departments need at least 8,000 doctors - 50 per cent more than the 5,300 currently employed - to keep pace with the rise in emergency admissions in the last five years.
