Faced with the shortage of practitioners, the British public health service will recruit doctors from India. Without passing the usual skills tests, they will have to prove themselves on Skype.
The British emergency services are coping as best they can with the shortage of practitioners in the country! This is indeed what reveals this Monday the Daily doctor’s in its columns. And to compensate for the lack of doctors, the public health services across the Channel (NHS) have thought of a solution that is at least original. They have started an unprecedented procedure aimed at recruiting dozens of Indian doctors. It must be said that there is an emergency: half of the emergency physician positions are vacant.
A first interview on Skype
The first stage of the recruitment phase takes place on Skype, this free software which is extremely popular around the world and which allows users to make telephone calls (by videoconference) via the Internet.
The 150 applicants are young Indian practitioners who have not yet completed their specialization. Then, the shortlisted will be entitled to a face-to-face interview with the NHS in the Indian capital (New Delhi). De facto exempt from part of the examinations usually required for foreign doctors, more than 50 Indian doctors could make their debut in the British emergency services next August. They will continue their specialist training in Great Britain before returning to India after four years.
Concern about the quality of care
This new kind of recruitment campaign is making waves among British doctors and patients. Even if the situation is an emergency since half of the emergency room posts are vacant, some doctors regret that the authorities “are giving in to panic and taking measures that could compromise patient safety”. The authorities insisted that a face-to-face interview would also be organized and that each candidate would undergo a language test. The controversy comes as British health authorities are increasingly concerned about the standards required for foreign doctors coming to work in the United Kingdom. Last week, for example, a study by University College London found that half of foreign doctors practicing in Britain would fail if given skills tests identical to those of their British colleagues.
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