'We need them': British initiative supports highly-qualified refugee doctors from Syria and Iraq into work

As Britain enters a heated debate over the hiring of foreign doctors, a project in the UK makes the argument that absorbing refugee doctors into its National Health Service will bring huge benefits both to these professionals and to the country, which suffers from the lowest rate of doctors per head in Europe.

The Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project offers the chance of a new start for refugees who have left their home countries in search of a better future, bringing with them their qualifications and experience.

"In 2017, I returned to Syria to have my medical certificate from Ain Shams University in Cairo equated and get a license to practice as a doctor. The following year I resumed my studies in Damascus to specialise in general surgery, but it wasn’t long before I had to leave the country due to security problems. This was three months after I’d got married," Bara'a, a 31-year-old doctor from Dera'a in South Syria tells Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister publication.

Absorbing refugee doctors into the National Health Service will bring huge benefits both to these professionals and to the UK, which suffers from the lowest rate of doctors per head in Europe

Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project

"I arrived in the UK in August 2019, and it was almost seven months before I was granted the right to remain. I knew I was not allowed to work during this period, but as soon as I could, I started looking for organisations helping refugee doctors to get permission to start working in the UK. I actually found a number of these, all of whom responded positively to my questions, but I chose the Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project as they ticked more boxes, and what they provided suited my situation," Bara'a explains.

"For example, they sorted out accommodation for me and my wife (who arrived five months ago) and provided my basic necessities," Bara'a added, also explaining that to get medical qualifications equated in the UK there are three steps: an English language exam, a medical theory exam and a practical medical exam. He is currently at the second step.

He doesn't see much of a difference between what he studied in Egypt and Syria and what he is studying here, although, "here, the clinical guidelines are different, and I find this a little difficult, for example, the way you deal with teenagers and different age groups." 

He began working around five months ago at the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Lincolnshire (East England) as a physician's associate; he treats patients, although in a limited capacity and under the supervision of the consultant physician.

Home Office delays

Dr Khalil (30), a Kurd from Qamishli in Northeast Syria, says: "I am ready to work, but there are a lot of obstacles and no help is provided. Our circumstances as doctors don’t seem to be taken into account – this should be considered in order for us to get granted the right to remain in a reasonable amount of time."

Khalil speaks openly: "I have been living what seems a psychological battle for around a year – I am shocked at the Home Office delays in processing my case at a time that the country needs more doctors due to the coronavirus crisis."

At the moment he is studying around the clock and attending conferences but is in a constant state of anxiety. However, he lights up when talking about the Lincolnshire project: "The project is excellent for refugee doctors and there is no other project in the UK like it. I myself am a witness to how refugee doctors are suffering after years of being here, wasting years before they manage to get permission to practice as doctors." 

He points out that other organisations claim to help refugee doctors but "in reality don’t offer the necessary support".

I have been living what seems a psychological battle for around a year - I am shocked at how long the Home Office has taken to process my case at a time that the country clearly needs more doctors due to the coronavirus crisis

Brain drain from conflict zones

It is well-known that with the ongoing conflicts in countries like Syria and Iraq, a large number of highly-skilled healthcare workers including many trained doctors have sought refuge in different countries, among them the UK. In 2016, the British Medical Association's Refugee Doctor initiative had taken the registration details of 560 doctors who were refugees or asylum-seekers, and this has increased at a rate of between 15 and 30 each year, reaching approximately 680 in 2020.

Despite the fact that the UK has fewer doctors per head than any other European country (one doctor per 10,000 patients) and this is leading to major problems, the government and other relevant bodies have failed to consider how to benefit from the skills of refugee and asylum-seeker doctors.

This is with the exception of a limited number of projects which have sprung up to support them and help them to qualify in the UK with the aim of investing their skills in the community. One of the most prominent of these is the Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project, founded by retired doctor Andrew Mowat in 2016, in cooperation with the British Medical Association and British charitable organisations.

This project aims to provide support and employment of refugee doctors, as well as tackling the lack of NHS doctors in the region. It also seeks to raise awareness in NHS trusts of the importance that they benefit from available resources and talent in the UK, which are currently being wasted because these refugee doctors are not receiving the support they need to start practising. Furthermore, the project has created a path for refugee doctors into employment in public clinics and hospitals, a process estimated to take around 2.5 years.

A short film made by @CentreGHuM @AdamCoutts and the Syria Public Health Network, featuring LRDP member Dr Baraa Khrebeh. The film demonstrates how retraining refugee healthcare professionals can help fill gaps in healthcare left by Covid-19.https://t.co/GdWZFhEvP7

— Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project (@LincsRefugeeDoc) October 6, 2020

Comprehensive Support

Ruth Ingamells, Director of Operations in the Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project, explains: “We support the doctors with everything, starting by providing accommodation, furniture and electronic equipment like computers. We also help them to take the English and medical examinations, which then lets them qualify to register with the general medical consultant and find work. We help them overcome any obstacle hindering them from qualifying to practice medicine in this country."

She clarifies: "They don't need to learn medicine because they are already qualified doctors. But the project teaches them how to practice as medical professionals in the UK. It also grants the opportunity to asylum-seeker doctors to join our distance-learning programme, instead of just wasting their time while waiting for a positive Home Office decision."

The cost of training a new doctor in the UK is £300,000 (around $420,000), while the total cost of training a refugee doctor to work in the NHS costs £25,000  (around $34,800) - around 12% of the cost of training a new British doctor

On Lincolnshire, Ingamells says: "A lot of British people here disapprove when they hear about the project and ask if the refugees are going to take their jobs." She explains that the word 'refugee' can carry a stigma among some people which makes her angry. "Therefore, when we look for accommodation for the refugee doctors, we try to find suitable places where they won’t suffer discrimination."

The project points out that providing this assistance to refugee doctors saves a lot of money. The cost of training a new doctor in the UK is £300,000 (around $420,000), while the total cost of training a refugee doctor to work in the NHS costs £25,000  (around $34,800) – around 12 percent of the cost of training a new British doctor. It also points out that the World Health Organisation (WHO) anticipates a global shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030.

'We need them'

"The ongoing mass exodus of highly-qualified workers from Syria, Iraq and North Africa affects the ability of aid organisations and governments to offer humanitarian assistance to people," says Dr Adam Coutts, from the Sociology Department of Cambridge University.

He states that Syrian healthcare workers, as is the case with other immigrant professionals, are an educated workforce with highly specialised skills, and their experiences have important political, economic, humanitarian and academic implications.

He points out: "Failing to use the skills of thousands of qualified healthcare professionals is a massive waste, and many of them are finding themselves excluded from formal job opportunities and sliding into poverty in host communities in the Middle East and Europe."

"Failing to use the skills of thousands of qualified healthcare professionals is a massive waste, and many of them are finding themselves excluded from formal job opportunities and sliding into poverty in host communities in the Middle East and Europe"

Coutts also produced a short film, showcasing some of the success stories of refugee doctors who were able to start practising again. He believes that with more support through programmes like the Lincolnshire project, other doctors could return to practising their profession quickly. According to Coutts, "the integration of refugee doctors needs to be seen as a political priority in countries like the UK. The health sectors in the UK and all of Europe need these people."

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition. To read the original click here.

Article translated by Rose Chacko