In view of the acute shortage of doctors in that country, UK’s National Health Service (NHS), the country’s public-funded healthcare system, is planning to induct 2,000 doctors from India.
NHS will conduct postgraduate training of six to 12 months for the Indian doctors before they are placed in UK hospitals. They will be exempted from the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) examination upon completion of training, sources said.
UK’s doctor shortage is reportedly because of three major reasons. They are: expensive training, low wages, and burnout due to too much workload. In fact, 25-30% of NHS doctors have been trained overseas.
Diverse views
There have been concerns expressed that this initiative amounts to a brain drain from India. However, one view is that more doctors from India will not be motivated to go to UK as India offers more lucrative careers.
Those in favour of the initiative say it will offer valuable experience for Indian doctors. It will give Indian medicos wide exposure and improve their skills. Also, they say, 2000 is a small number as India produces over 110,000 doctors every year. The move is seen as a significant step towards global healthcare collaboration.
The NHS has established training centres at major private hospitals in Mumbai, Delhi, Nagpur, Gurugram, Calicut, Bengaluru, Chennai, Indore and Mysore. Still, there is not much awareness about this initiative.
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