Dr Edwin Borman, Chairman International Committee
Speech for 2005 ARM
30 June 2005
Chairman
It’s always difficult to predict what will be considered sexy by our colleagues in the media, but I’m able to report that, due to work led by the BMA, this year the migration of doctors has made headline news. How could it not? Patients are dying because there is a lack of skilled healthcare professionals able to care for them; what is less well known is that this is as true in the richest countries of the world as it in the poorest ones. I’m pleased to note that the BMA – recognising its responsibilities in a global healthcare market, and not merely complaining about matters – is leading the search for solutions to this worldwide crisis. These will require rich countries – that can afford it – to graduate enough nurses and doctors to meet their nation’s needs, and poorer countries to make their nation’s health a higher priority than wasteful defence spending or corruption.
Further positive news regarding the migration of doctors, is that this year has seen the BMA, with the support of others, achieve success in correcting the 30-year long legislative discrimination against doctors who are EU citizens but have their primary medical qualification from outside the EU. On the 6th of June the Council of Ministers adopted the new directive on professional qualifications; this will allow such doctors, who have been in practice for three years or more in an EU member state, the same rights of migration as their EU-qualified colleagues Evidence of formal qualifications issued by a third country shall be regarded as evidence of formal qualifications if the holder has three years’ professional experience in the profession concerned on the territory of the Member State which recognised that evidence of formal qualifications in accordance with Article 2(2), certified by that Member State.. The really sharp ones amongst you will recognise that this now makes me readily exportable… however, returning to the serious matter, this is a major achievement, and testifies to the persistent lobbying efforts of the BMA’s Brussels office.
The International Department is now in its third year of our Strategic Grant Agreement with DfID, raising the awareness of our members of the problems of poverty and poor healthcare in developing countries. Through this partnership – in addition to addressing the skills drain crisis – the BMA has led initiatives on how best to develop drugs for diseases prevalent in developing countries, and on supporting UK doctors who are willing to give of their time, and their medical expertise, to alleviate these. I’m therefore delighted to see this section of the ARM’s agenda starting with a motion on Making Poverty History. We had already identified joining this campaign as something that the BMA should do, so I hope for a unanimous vote in favour.
The International Department straddles both the professional and the trade union aspects of the BMA so, when major concerns were raised about the potential impact on the NHS of the proposed EU directive on services, it fell to us to lobby for healthcare to be withdrawn from this legislation. While I know that Jacques Chirac and Gerhardt Schröder are claiming the success, I’d rather believe that it was the BMA’s lobbying that was responsible for the European Commission re-thinking this one, and now specifically considering the exclusion of the publicly funded health sector from future legislation.
The International Department, working with the Royal College of Nursing and the Department of Health provides small grants for NHS staff doing humanitarian work, thus making it possible for us to support, and learn from, many exciting projects around the world. The DH has confirmed that it will continue its funding for the next two years, and the BMA has now also agreed to contribute, so we shall be building on the success so far. The BMA already is working closely with the charity International Health Partnerships that provides for donations of appropriate and in-date drugs and medical equipment to be sent to countries that desperately need them. Their efforts have been remarkably successful in assisting countries devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Refugee doctors remain high on our list of priorities and, to assist with their integration, the BMA leads a coalition of like-minded organisations and individuals. A current lobbying priority is to persuade the government to lift the ban that prevents fully qualified doctors, who are asylum-seekers, from working – some of whom already have been offered posts – so that they too can contribute to the NHS. We are also very aware of the frustrations faced by all internationally-qualified doctors regarding the costs and workings of the immigration system and, as a major priority, have developed an encouraging dialogue with the Home Office on these issues.
We continue to wrestle with the healthcare problems of many of the world’s trouble-spots. For desperate reasons Iraq remains a challenge, but I, and others, have met Iraqi doctors, and health officials, on visits to the UK, to discuss how best to deal with the terrible problems they face. We are working with representatives from other countries, and from the Royal Colleges and the Department of Health, in trying to support our colleagues there. In a similar manner, the BMA is working with Medact and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to assist colleagues in Afghanistan, and with doctors from the Zimbabwean diaspora to see how the BMA might be able to advise on the healthcare problems of a developing country that is being destroyed by its own leaders.
It is not possible for me, in the time permitted, to cover all of the work done by the International Department, so I draw your attention to the briefing papers that have been prepared for the ARM, and close by thanking members of the International Committee for all their support during the last session. In particular, I thank my deputy, Kate Adams, who is leading our work with doctors from the diaspora of developing countries. Thanks especially to the staff of the International Department and our Brussels-based European Liaison Officer, Kevin Doran. However, my greatest thanks go to Sallie Nicholas, the Head of the International Department secretariat, who is leaving the BMA. I say farewell with sadness; but wish Sallie much success in her future, and note my own appreciation of the enormous contribution she has made to our successes.
Chairman, I move …