Troubled Times in the UK

[byzhanii_bogn]

since so many wanted to become doctors. for the heck i dunno why. u can go and argue urself. money, fame, status, whatever saving ppl my foot. but this is something u ought to see. i'd rather have australia and russia have the same policy as well. LONG LIVE
BRITAIN!

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Further to Lord Warner?s announcement on 7 March 2006 about the new Work Permit requirement for IMGs intending to work in UK, I thought I should summarize what the new rule means to Malaysian doctors & medical students in UK.

1. All doctors wishing to work in the UK from outside the European Union (EU) will be required to have a work permit from April 2006. The move means that any NHS trust wishing to employ a doctor from outside the EU will have to prove that a ?home-grown? doctor cannot fill the vacant post, ending the current permit free training arrangement for international doctors. If there is one British or EU applicant for a certain training post, Malaysian doctors who have no Permanent Resident (PR) status in UK will not be eligible to apply. Practically, Malaysian doctors in UK without PR status can forget about post-graduate training in UK except:

2. Non-EU doctors who studied in UK universities are allowed permit free training to complete their TWO years Foundation Programme which is equivalent to the previous Pre-registration House Officer (PRHO) & first year Senior House Officer (SHO) level of training. This is to enable them to register with the General Medical Council (GMC). Thereafter, they too will be subjected to Work Permit requirement practically excluding them from further post-graduate training in UK.

3. Malaysian doctors who are currently working in UK will be allowed to complete their remaining contracts. After then they will not be eligible for further application or extension of post-graduate unless the Work Permit condition can be fulfilled (which is practically impossible). Those whose permit free visas are expiring but whose employment contracts remain valid will be allowed to extend their visa in the form of Work Permit to complete the remaining terms of their employment. There after they too will only be eligible to apply for posts that cannot be filled by EU or UK doctors. Effectively, if you are in the Type I Specialist Registrars? post, you are safe. As for the rest, you have missed the boat.

4. Malaysian doctors who are in the process of applying for jobs will find their CVs literally thrown into the bins.

5. Those short-listed will be barred to proceed in their job application.

6. This is a tragedy to many Malaysian doctors affected by the new ruling. It means they will have to uproot their families, sell their houses and cars etc, come home and start from the bottom again, unless the Malaysian government is prepared to do something to bridge and complete their post-graduate training. The announcement came with virtually no warning and no grace period for people to adjust or make necessary arrangement.

7. Those who intend to sit the PLAB exam please stop doing it. PLAB has practically lost its reason to exist.

8. Malaysian prospective students and parents SHOULD NOT send their children to UK unless they are certain that they only want to come to UK for undergraduate training only. JPA on the other hand no longer has to worry about the issue of non-returning scholars.
9. There is protest going on. BMA and the Royal Colleges are speaking on IMGs behalf. The rule is unlikely to change in the near future but they are trying to help those IMGs who are already working in UK who have been most unfairly treated.

References:

1. Extra Investment and Increase In Home-Grown Medical Recruits Eases UK Reliance On Overseas Doctors
2. Overseas Doctors : Change to the Immigration Rules for Postgraduate Doctors and Dentists
Further reading:

3. The ?Work Permit? saga continues?(Greener Pastures Blog Post)

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and now, whoever want to hack me, u're welcome. i'm going to be in the medical school in Malaya Uni. I DON'T BUY THE GODDAMN DEGREE! IT'S NOT RUSSIA, IT's NOT INDON NOT INDIA! IT's MALAYSIA, and IT's CONTROLLED!

[bush]

UM.............is not the best place to learn medicine either............................

[meselsohnstahl]

sorry, but i dont get the point of ur post..

what does the top part have anything to do with u not buying ur medical degree??

The reason for the OP's post is the degradation over the years of Malaysian undergraduate training. (S)he is trying to get across the point that despite the deterioration of Malaysian medical training (s)he will still be a good quality doctor, hence the bit about the degree not being purchased. The next point is conjecture but perhaps still worth stating: is the OP supportive of the rule change in the UK so that, being one of the 'chosen few' accepted into UM, (s)he can then lord it over those who cannot now have a smooth career path, i.e. those who will find it economically unsound to study abroad and have fallen foul of our 'meritocratic' admissions system, as the doors abroad have been shut to them? If so, shame on you, you have managed to make my opinion of UM students/graduates sink even lower.

While I sympathise with Malaysian graduates who now have to work doubly hard to regain confidence in the eyes of the public, the post is terribly puerile. For someone embarking on a medical career the post reeks of immaturity and an excessive degree of petulance. Is this perhaps a reflection of our selection processes, where the muggers with straight As/right skin colour are automatically selected? Interestingly this does not seem to correlate with English language ability, as ably demonstrated in the original post.

I also note that the OP pours scorn on the motives of those applying to do medicine. I wonder what his/hers are, which trump those of his/her peers?

COI: Medic with links within and without the local medical establishment

[Thirdshifter]

this is what happens.. when all doctors are only in it for the money. Kudos to EU.. i hope USA will come up with something similar..

the world needs doctors in africa and asia, not North america and europe.

Pardon me? Only in it for the money? I could have made much more money doing something other than medicine, given the specialty I am interested in. You have clearly bought into the thinking of local doctors, many of whom are just sore that they themselves, for various reasons, could not experience overseas training. Either that, or you believe the government spin.

It is true we need more doctors in the developing world, but until these countries get their act together and provide high-quality training programmes with sufficient places for those who want to access them, junior doctors will still go abroad to train. It makes me very angry to see the contempt, amply shown by the views on boards such as this, which my patients will have for me when I return home.