London High
Court upheld a new rule, Foreign doctors in jeopardy
LONDON, Feb. 09, 2007
Col. Harbakash Singh
Last Friday, the London High Court upheld a new rule, declining
to quash the Immigration Regulations that came into force on April
3, 2006, leaving nearly 16,000 Indian doctors and Arab doctors 6,000
in jeopardy. More than 10,000 trainee doctors will have to leave
the country with the new law.
The new rules will begin from July 7 and after that only doctors
from the European Union can work without a permit.
The new rules will favor European Union and home-grown UK doctors,
non-EEA (European Economic Area) graduates hoping to continue their
training in the UK will have to apply for work permits rather than,
as previously allowed, enter with a student visa. It will make a
huge difference. A lot of foreign students seeking postgraduate
education travel to the UK and the visa changes will have a big
impact on them.
The court also clearly mentioned that there was no obligation on
the government departments to consult BAPIO or other interested
parties before making the changes to the Immigration Rules, though
it did say that the Secretary of State for Home had failed to carry
out a Race Equality Impact assessment before making changes to the
Immigration Rules.
Justice Stanley Burton said, "If there had been a significant
examination of the race relations issues involved in the change
to the Immigration Rules, there would have been a written record
of it."
"The NHS has been built on the back of foreign doctors, and
now they are closing the door and saying 'Sorry; we don't want you
anymore.'"
Ramesh Mehta, BAPIO President, said:
- We believe we have a strong case and we are positively thinking
of appealing against the High Court verdict.
- The verdict has provided no relief to thousands of international
medical graduates whose careers are being destroyed by the new
Immigration Regulations which came into force on April 3, 2006.
- We are surprised that the court does not agree with us that
the Department of Health Guidance misrepresents the effect of
the Immigration Rules and it is an illegitimate attempt to amend
the rules, thereby circumventing the requirements of Section 3(2)
of the Immigration Act 1971
In UAE, the absence of postgraduate opportunities has traditionally
led to a high percentage of Arab doctors pursuing training in the
UK and number has risen in recent years, in part due to the complications
associated with accessing American student visas in the wake of
9/11. British Arab Medical Association (BAMA), which has campaigned
vehemently against the new rules.
Most of the doctors halfway through their training now have no
job, no visa and no way to support themselves. With the new Law,
it means that doctors already in the UK have no time to adjust or
make alternative arrangements. All new application forms and guidances
have been made available last year for doctors and dentists and
openly favors UK and EU citizens graduated from accredited UK medical
universities.
Dr. Ashok Agrwal from New Delhi offered a training placement if
the hospital cannot find an EU doctor to fill the post, told NRI
press that he had come here at great expense to get this training,
and with this new law his whole life has been in jeopardy.
One local doctor said, " This is our country and no body has
the right to tell us how we have to improve our medical system.

|