Securing employment in British hospitals tough task for Lankan doctors - Dr. Shiv Pande

by Hana Ibrahim

Considering postgraduate medical training, fellowship studies or employment in the UK? Don't bother.

This is the advice given to newly qualified doctors by the former chairman of the British International Doctors Association, who claims that lack of funds, discrimination against Asians and lack of job opportunities is forcing many young doctors to forgo their medical training and take up menial jobs, ill suited for their professional qualifications, merely to survive.

Dr. Shiv Pande, MBE, MRCGP, former Treasurer, General Medical Council (GMC) of UK, and former Chairman Overseas Doctors' Association renamed British Intentional Doctors Association (BIDA), who was in Sri Lanka on holiday, describes the trend as a 'waste of valuable training' and says that there are as much as 800 unemployed Sri Lankan and South Asian doctors in the UK and that the figure is expected to go up to 5000 by 2007.

He attributes the increase to many passing the Professional and Linguistic Ability (PLAB) test, part one of which is held at the British Council in the home country, and part two (practical) in the UK. PLAB tests are held four times a year in Sri Lanka, and according to officials at the British Council, around 100 MBBS qualified doctors sit for the exams each quarter, with around 70 per cent acquiring pass marks.

PLAB qualification enables young doctors to pursue post graduate and fellowship training in the UK. Many Sri Lankan doctors do so with government grants and opt to stay on in the hope of securing employment. However, Dr. Pande points out that securing employment in a British hospital is a tough task and that on average a newly qualified doctor has to send in about 600 applications to various hospitals before he is called in for an interview.

"And that too doesn't guarantee a job appointment, as there are thousands of applications for a single opening," he says, adding that often, preference is given to non-Asians.

Many doctors, according to Dr. Pande remain unemployed for a substantial period, living below poverty lines doing menial jobs in supermarkets, gas stations and fast food outlets. "This is a waste of their training and experience."

Corroborating this is a survey conducted by the BIDA, where 80 per cent of the doctors had said they faced discrimination of one form or another, and 64 per cent were found to be living below the poverty line.

This does not however mean, local doctors are shut out of British hospitals. According to Dr. Pande, there are plenty of job opportunities, but those are limited consultants and experienced, middle grade doctors.

He advices young doctors who want to work in a British hospitals to do their hospital jobs, exams and consultancy in Sri Lanka, reach a middle grade, acquire the experience and then apply for a job in the UK. This way they will be guaranteed employment, he says.

He is also of the opinion that young doctors can better serve Sri Lanka if they work in local hospitals and do their training locally. "There are good post graduate training facilities in the country.

Doctors don't need to come to the UK," he says, explaining that BIDA is considering requesting the British government to put a block on young doctors coming to the UK for post graduate medical training.

Of the doctors who have managed to secure employment, Dr. Pande says a large number are appearing before the GMC for various misdemeanours, including fraud, incompetence, sexual harassment, leaking confidential information and bad behaviour.

Punishment for offence range from a slap on the wrist to the names being struck off the GMC register, depending on the magnitude of the offence. Being struck off the GMC register means the doctors can't work in the UK, Europe, USA or even Australia.

However as the Medical Councils are not very pro-active in Asia, Dr. Pande feels, doctors guilty of serious medical negligence, often end up securing employment in their home country, or in the Middle East.

Stressing that the GMC was concerned about this, Dr. Pande urges the Sri Lanka medical council to be more pro-active and also recommends that the medical colleges include course in communication and ethics in their syllabi to ensure that local doctors do not fall prey to professional misconduct.

A member of the GMC UK since 1994, Dr. Pande was elected Treasurer for 1999 to 2003, and was honour by the Queen with an MBE in recognition of his charity work. Dr. Pande helped raise pd 20,000 for the Bhopal victims by organising a India/Pakistan vs rest of the world cricket match. It was the first time India and Pakistan played together as a team.