Major Victory for Indian Doctors in Britain
Britain-based Indian doctors have won a major battle when the British
government agreed to withdraw a "discriminatory clause"
that could have doomed their future in Britain.
According to that clause, non-European doctors who did not have
visas beyond August 1, 2007 would not have been considered for job
interview and appointment process.
The association of Britain-based Indian doctors, British Association
for People of Indian Origin (BAPIO) moved the High Court of Justice,
but before the court could have declared its decree, the Secretary
of State’s Counsel requested a brief adjournment.
And BAPIO was informed that the Secretary of State was prepared
to roll back that decision.
Dr Ramesh Mehta, president of BAPIO, said BAPIO has accepted this
offer and agreed to withdraw the case since the Secretary of State
gave an undertaking to the court that the clause will be removed.
A visibly delighted, Mehta said for the first time a clear message
has been sent out that promises made to International Medicals Graduates
(IMGs) must be kept. And urged that
HSMP doctors must be treated at par with UK and EU nationals.
Earlier, on March 4, BAPIO had obtained an emergency injunction
to prevent discrimination of doctors regarding this visa issue for
the recruitment for 21,000 training jobs.
Many affected doctors felt this visa issue would have been hard
on many international doctors whose visa came up for renewal before
this date.
However, Dr Raman Lakshman, vice chair for policy, expressed his
happiness that the Department of Health has conceded and said he
hopes that there will be no further road-blocks for HSMP doctors
Similar views was echoed by, Vice Chair for Operations, Dr Satheesh
Mathew, who said it’s a great day in the history of IMG in
the UK. And has also thanked his barristers, solicitors and legal
team for this success.
He said 40,713 applications were received from outside of the UK
for consideration under HSMP during 2006 and so far 21,948 applications
have been approved.
