Indian and Pakistani doctors opt to go home

by FIONA GARTLAND

DOCTORS BROUGHT to the Republic from India and Pakistan to address severe shortages in public hospitals have decided to return home after delays in their Medical Council registration.
Some of the 270 non-consultant hospital doctors recruited to fill junior posts that fell vacant in July this year have left the Republic after spending two months in the country awaiting registration.
It is not known how many have left, but one source said “dozens” had done so.
To date 110 of the doctors who were brought here have been registered. Those awaiting registration have been provided with food and accommodation, but are earning no money.
The Irish Times has seen e-mails between some of the doctors and the Health Service Executive expressing their frustration at delays in the system.
At one point, the HSE sent an e-mail telling doctors who had already given up their jobs at home and booked their airline tickets to the Republic not to come because they were not listed with the Medical Council to sit speciality assessments. The e-mail said the Medical Council had requested the HSE to provide a list of doctors available for assessments beginning August 2nd, which was provided on July 28th. Anyone not on the list would have to be assessed “at a future date”.
“Taking this into account, it is recommended that you do not make arrangements to travel.”
One doctor replied he had already booked his ticket and had informed the HSE of that fact on July 9th. Other e-mails doctors sent to each other reflect their frustration at their treatment since they arrived here. “I have decided to go back home. I cannot cope up with this degradation anymore. I have left my two small children and a husband back home,” one doctor wrote.
Another spoke of his accommodation arrangements while awaiting registration and attending hospital as an observer. He said he was almost four kilometres from his hospital but his food was provided in the hospital canteen at fixed times, with dinner from 11pm. “Is it not unfair that we have a 45-minute walk in rain to get our food and by the time we reach back it’s already 1am?” he asked.
The Medical Council said its systems were in place to ensure patients are treated by a doctor who has the education, training and skills to provide safe and appropriate care.
“To date, the HSE has not supplied information on the supervisory arrangements in place to protect patients for 40 per cent of the candidate doctors,” it said.
It also said 70 candidates had not yet supplied some of their documentation, which was a requirement for registration.
The HSE said a small number of junior doctors had said they are leaving the Republic “for a variety of reasons”.
Source http://www.irishtimes.com/