Annual Representative Meeting 2005 - policy statement on overseas recruitment
30 June 2005
This Meeting endorses the following policy statement:
A) That the BMA deplores the active recruitment of healthcare workers from developing countries.
B) That the BMA:
1) Recognises that the lack of healthcare workers in developing countries is a global emergency that requires urgent action. The impact of health worker migration from developing countries is a significant component in this crisis, and is a contributing cause of the spiral of poverty and disease.
2) Appreciates the important contribution that internationally qualified healthcare workers can make to their destination countries and in particular, the contribution they have made to the NHS.
3) Recognises that concerted action by the governments and national medical associations of developing and developed countries is required to resolve this global problem.
C) That the BMA calls on governments:
1) In developed countries, to commit the necessary resources to achieving self-sufficiency, graduating the healthcare workers needed for their own countries’ requirements.
2) In developed countries, to provide readily available and accurate information on job availability in the different areas and stages of medicine, to inform healthcare workers of realistic career prospects.
3) In developing countries, to prioritise the resources required to meet the healthcare needs of their populations.
4) In developing countries, to prioritise the retention of healthcare professionals in their own countries by optimising their career opportunities there.
1) To defend the rights of individual healthcare professionals to migrate, should they choose to do so.
2) To support appropriate international twinning and educational exchange programmes.
3) To lobby nationally and internationally to ensure that this global crisis is addressed as a matter of urgency.
E) That the BMA calls on the GMC:
1) To make PLAB available at overseas locations, thereby avoiding the need for an expensive trip to the UK.
2) To ensure internationally qualified doctors can make informed choices about their employment prospects in the UK based upon their results.
3) To consider establishing a common application and entry procedure for internationally qualified doctors seeking training in the UK
F) That the BMA challenges the G8 and developing countries to work together to provide increased funding and improved infrastructure, to achieve the WHO goal of healthcare for all.
G) That the BMA challenges all governments to implement the Millennium Development Goals by the stated target date and believes that this will require them to address the skills drain and its root causes.
