Why British Media is against Indian Drs??

[Vivek Chhabra]

http://vipinzamvar.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/stop-foreign-doctor-bashing.html?m=1

Stop "foreign doctor bashing"

On Friday, 18 April, 2014, the Daily Telegraph came up with the headline "Foreign doctors lack skills for NHS"

I wrote a letter to the Telegraph Editor complaining about the article. Neither was my letter published, nor have I received any answer from the editor. (I have not failed to notice that since Friday last week, the letters section of the Telegraph has not published a single letter on this topic. Wonder Why?)

Here is my letter:

20 April 2014

Dear Sir,

Re: Foreign doctors lack skills for NHS

I wish to complain about the deliberate misrepresentation of facts in order to design a catchy headline and to show foreign doctors in poor light on the part of your newspaper.

The entire article by Sarah Knapton in Saturday’s paper is riddled with inaccuracies, but I will limit my point-by-point rebuttal to the first two paragraphs.

Sarah Knapton quotes a study by Prof. McManus published in the BMJ to say that half of all foreign doctors in Britain do not have the necessary skills to work here. Despite all its faults, the study by McManus has not looked at the skill levels of native or foreign doctors. He has just looked at the marks obtained in the postgraduate assessments. Surely, the General Medical Council would have failed in its duty if even a single doctor without the necessary skills is allowed to work in the UK.

In the second paragraph Ms Knapton writes that the majority of the 88,000 foreign doctors would fail exams if they were held to the same standard as their British colleagues. This is again a completely false statement, and this hypothesis has not at all been tested in the research quoted.

Later on in the article Ms Knapton says that McManus has asked for the pass mark to be raised in the PLAB exam (the entry exam for foreign graduates) so as to ensure “patient safety”. Again, this is absolutely false. The research in question did not look at matters relating to patient safety at all.

In fact there are many studies which have showed that patients looked after by foreign doctors do not have poorer outcomes.

It is a matter of record that the NHS is heavily reliant on overseas doctors. Many departments (across many specialities, and many regions) would have to shut down if there was not a steady supply of foreign doctors. The article has not acknowledged the role of the foreign doctors in providing absolutely essential services in the NHS. Whilst this may not be expected of Ms Knapton, it is a sorry reflection of the UK medical establishment that none of the senior NHS figures decided to comment on this newspaper report and point out the glaringly obvious faults in the article.

This article is irresponsible journalism at its worst.

Yours sincerely,

Vipin Zamvar   MS, FRCS(CTh)

Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

Vivek
--- People have only impairments, its the society which makes them disabled

[rajendra rendalkar]

The British need business with India : we need to speak to them in the same language.

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