Indian doctors' body raises PLAB2 test issue with Javid

AN ORGANISATION representing Indian doctors has raised the issue of cancelled qualification exams in the UK with health secretary Sajid Javid.

The General Medical Council (GMC) announced on December 22 that it was cancelling all PLAB2 tests for foreign doctors in January and February 2022.

However, this decision was made without any prior discussion with medical organisations, the British Associations of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) said.

Its president, Dr Ramesh Mehta, said, “This cancellation of PLAB2 tests not only deprives us from timely recruitment of these valuable doctors, it also causes them significant hardship in a foreign country. I am very concerned about this state of affairs.”

PLAB2 is essential for ensuring that qualified doctors from abroad can demonstrate competency to train in the NHS.

It is estimated that 2,500 doctors were expected to take the test; those who passed would have commenced training.

BAPIO said affected Indian doctors are “now without jobs, in a foreign country and without the financial means to support themselves for the extra months required.

“The GMC has indicated that the exams for this cohort of doctors will be held in later this year, which is an unacceptable delay,” the organisation said.

Chair of BAPIO, Dr JS Bamrah, added, “Migrant doctors have formed an invaluable part of the NHS workforce. This sort of action by the GMC only serves to give the wrong perception to migrant doctors in this country as well as those who intend to come and serve the NHS”.

Una Lane, Director of Registration for the GMC, said: "We are deeply disappointed to have to cancel exams at this time but given the pressures on the NHS and the impact on examiner availability it was the only viable option. We intend to re-open on a limited basis in February so that we can prioritise those candidates already in the UK or with a job offer or place in training.

"Doctors from around the world make a huge contribution to our health services and from the very start of the pandemic, we’ve done everything we can to make available to the health service the level of doctors needed to care for patients. This has included investing in new facilities and additional staffing for assessments."

She added: "We still expect to offer 15,000 PLAB 2 places this year - the highest ever. In 2021 we registered over 12,000 doctors from outside of the UK, and we continue to register 250 international medical graduates each week who have already met our standards in recent months.’

The concerns raised by BAPIO come as the UK is facing significant shortages in medical staff, who have been off sick with Covid-19 as the Omicron variant spreads.

Prime minister Boris Johnson has said the strain is mild and the country should stick to Plan B.