UK seeks to integrate refugee MDs
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* Mary Helen Spooner

Attempts are being made to help refugee physicians practise in Britain. The move comes as the National Health Service (NHS) seeks to bolster the MD supply by 2000 GPs and 7500 specialists by 2004. “Given that the NHS is critically short of doctors and it costs [Can$600 000] to train one, it seems such a waste not to help qualified professionals,” said Dr. Edwin Borman, chair of the British Medical Association's (BMA) International Committee.

The BMA is working to help more than 600 refugee physicians, but Borman thinks there are many more who would like to resume their careers. (In Canada, provincial governments and the colleges of physicians and surgeons are responsible for integrating such physicians into the medical system.)

The BMA and the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE) have published a guide for refugee doctors, which covers topics such as the NHS and requirements for practising in the UK. JCORE Director Edie Friedman says many refugees lack information in these areas and seemed resigned to being unable to practise. She said funding for doctors seeking requalification is “very patchy”; if more was made available it could actually cost far less than training new MDs from scratch.

The BMA, which waives membership fee for refugee doctors in financial need, also offers a free package of benefits for asylum-seeking MDs and provides an informal mentoring program. There are no similar programs at the national level in Canada.

The BMA's working paper on ways to help refugee physicians ([www.bma.org.uk](http://www.bma.org.uk)) notes that many of them were well advanced in their careers when they fled and they are now having a hard time adjusting to the training needed to meet requirements. Others may have had their training interrupted or their documentation destroyed and have difficulty securing references. As well, they often lack fluency in English. — *Mary Helen Spooner*, West Sussex, UK