Doctors protest over visa changes
Doctors protest over visa changes
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Friday, 21, Apr 2006 10:12
Hundreds of doctors are expected to demonstrate in London today in protest at changes to the rules that govern immigrant doctors.
The government announced last month that it was introducing a new work permit system, which makes it more difficult for doctors from outside the European Union to work within the NHS.
Under the previous system, international doctors were able to work in the UK without a permit as long as their job involved training. Campaigners claim that the changes will leave up to 20,000 international medical graduates jobless.
They claim that the decision to introduce permits was made without any consultation or advance warning and has "created an atmosphere of doom and gloom" among the medical community.
The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) urged doctors to make their feelings known outside the Department of Health building at Richmond House in a two-hour peaceful protest.
"International medical graduates are very upset and demoralised," the BAPIO's Dr Sathesh Mathew, who is coordinating the event, said.
"They are keen to express their feelings. There is tremendous response to the protest."
But the NHS has defended the changes, insisting they will ensure that British candidates will be given priority when seeking NHS jobs.
Speaking on the Today programme, health minister Lord Warner stressed that the rules had not changed "overnight".
"What we have done is make sure that we are becoming more self-sufficient in training our own doctors," he said.
"There's been a 70 per cent increase in the number of medical school intakes over the last seven or eight years and we have to ensure that there are postgraduate specialist training posts for our own UK graduates."