New deal with India could see immigration of cheap doctors London – Arab Today Health campaigners in the UK warned that patient safety could be jeopardised under a new NHS deal which will bring cut-price doctors from India to the UK .
Around 20 NHS trusts are currently in talks with Indian health officials to discuss a business plan allowing cheaper foreign surgeons to carry out operations abroad.
Former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, who is now the chairman of the UK India Business Council, said the initiative could save the NHS £30 billion British pounds in funding.
However, Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association – an independent council of health organisations, said, “There are really serious concerns about safety here; the NHS should learn the lessons of the past, because we have frequently seen incidents where patients have been put at risk from doctors who come here from overseas, and aren’t sufficiently trained in the ways of the NHS. Quality of care should never be compromised for financial gain”.
In December 2012, an investigation by the British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph found three quarters of doctors struck off the medical register were from abroad.
Indian healthcare providers are seeking to take on more of the UK’s outsourced work, such as the diagnosis of illnesses.
Hewitt said Indian doctors could participate in British healthcare in a growing number of specialist areas, including coronary heart-bypass surgery.
Around 12 trusts are expected to have signed agreements with their foreign counterparts by 2015.
The agreement would also allow British doctors to work abroad if they chose to do so.
Dr Kailash Chand – deputy chairman of the British Medical Association, warned that the plans could develop to see patients being flown abroad for procedures which according to some NHS trusts could save them money.
A spokesperson with the Department of Health said patient safety would always come first, adding that, “Under no circumstances will the quality of NHS services at home be compromised by the sharing of NHS expertise abroad.”