Calls to remove registration barriers for Indian doctors

There are fresh calls to remove administrative barriers for Indian doctors who wish to register to work in Ireland.

The issue is being highlighted at the first conference of the Indian Irish Medical Association (IIMA).

Mr Tej Tiwari, a consultant surgeon at Beaumont Hospital and President of the IIMA, said there are currently around 300 Indian doctors in Ireland.

"For Indian doctors, registration is a tedious process.

Most of the interns from Indian hospitals are not recognised here.

They can't register because their internship is not recognised," he said.

"It is very difficult for them to get registered with the Medical Council and then to work."
Mr Tiwari said that if the barrier existed for every country, that would be fine, but if it is limited to Indian doctors, then they want to overcome that barrier.

"We will work with the authorities concerned," he said.

The call was echoed by the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), whose President described the restriction as a "disgrace".

Professor Matthew Sadlier said the IMO had been campaigning on the issue since 2008.

He said it was a "simple legislative problem around the definition of the word 'intern'".

"The doctors from universities in India are as competent and excellent as doctors from other universities in the world.

The fact of how they define their final year of practice, not using the word internship, which in other territories they do use the word internship, has led to doctors in India having a much harder ability to register to work in Ireland," he said.

Prof Sadlier said that the IMO was calling on the Government to have an urgent meeting with the IIMA and the IMO to see if the problem could be resolved.

He said that that about half of the medical workforce in Ireland is made up of international medical graduates and that they are essential to the provision of medical services in this country.

Dr Mary Davoren, Vice President of the Medical Council said that a review of the issue is currently under way and is hoped to be completed within the next 6 months.

There are currently 310 Indian doctors working in Ireland.

"We think those numbers are quite low.

Diversity adds so much to medical work forces.

This is an area we are committed to working to make some improvement on."
Dr Davoren said that from registration retention data it gathers each year, figures show that the most international medical graduates come from Pakistan or Sudan.

"We've noticed on review of the data, a small number come from India.

We're looking at this at the moment to see what the barriers are and how we can address it."
She said that for patient safety reasons, it was very important that the Medical Council ensures that people coming to Ireland to practice medicine have equivalent internship training as a graduate from an Irish medical university would have.

She said these reviews can take some time and it is important they are done to a high standard.

Dr Davoren said that depending on the outcome of the review, there may be issues around legislation, and that is not in the Medical Council's remit.

However, she said there may be policies or other areas the Medical Council can work on, depending on the outcome.

"The most important thing is to look at the data and see how we can affect some change, what the issues are, and move it forward from that point," she said.

Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers delivered the inaugural address at the conference held in Enfield, Co Meath today.

He said that the Indian community plays an important role in our health system.

Minister Chambers said the Indian population in Ireland was about 100,000 people.

"They are at the frontline of our health systems everyday.

Today is about valuing their contributions, in the context of medicine and health care, and enhancing their contribution in shaping health policy."