were black.
These are just two blatant examples of the racism that runs like a sewer through the National Health Service. On 23 May the General Medical Council (GMC), legitimised it by deciding to cut the number of Indian doctors practising in Britain. In future they will only be given temporary registration.
This means they will not be able to prescribe drugs and will only be allowed to work in specific hospitals. If they want to move hospitals they will have to re-register. They will also have to pass examinations in language ability and in medicine. REACTIONARY These measures apply only to Indian doctors-but they are being considered for Pakistani, Arab and African doctors. They do not apply to Americans, Australians and white Europeans. These reactionary and discriminatory measures are justified by the GMC on the grounds that they are safeguards against declining health standards.
In fact, if Indian and other black doctors had not come to Britain the NHS would virtually have collapsed some years ago. During the 1960s the number of overseas doctors in Britain increased by 10,000. In At a large Yorkshire hospital an unexpected vacancy recently came up on the medical staff. Although there were plenty of applications the post was deliberately kept vacant until the consultant could find a white doctor. In the same city a British doctor applying for a job was told by the hospital secretary that he would get the job because all the other applicants Doctor I. Davidson that period British doctors were emigrating at a rate of about 400 a year to the more lucrative posts in the United States. At the same time another 3,000 recruits were lost to the medical profession because of Government cut-backs in education.
The GMC remained quiet about so-called declining standards then!
Although Indian doctors are practising all over the world, it is only in Britain that the accusation of incompetence has been made.
The GMC are of course correct when they talk about declining standards in the NHS. But they have a miserable record on tackling this question. They have taken no stand on the real issues such as private practice; cuts in social expenditure; the run-down of hospital building programmes; the archaic organisation of the medical profession; and the total lack of any realistic preventative and occupational health schemes.
Instead of dealing with these problems the GMC has simply used Indian doctors as a scapegoat. It wants to limit their numbers to make way for the first wave of other schools.
adequate health service, there is a growing shortage of suitable posts for these new graduates.
Government makes more money available for improving conditions and enabling the NHS to create doctors.
More doctors are needed in the NHS, not less. By taking up the come to work in Britain because health service and are opposed to private practice.
in surgery and other specialities which the Indian doctors learn in dards in India as well as Britain.