INTRODUCTION
Current estimates suggest that almost one-third of doctors practising in the NHS are from overseas and that the vast majority of these overseas doctors are from the Indian subcontinent.1 This of course is a surprising statistic because within the general population ethnic minorities represent only about 8% of the population of the UK.2
Why are so many doctors from the Indian subcontinent practising in the UK? Why do they come here and what has been their experience of working in the NHS? Although they are such a significant and visible part of the NHS, it is surprising how little we know about this group.
The purpose of this paper is to make an attempt at understanding the contribution of Asian doctors to the development of the NHS, and more generally, to British medicine.
Understanding what happened in the past is important because it should inform current changes that are taking place, especially in relation to the medical workforce and, one would hope, avoid the mistakes of the past. Following the publication of the NHS Plan,3 the NHS has undergone a period of massive expansion not dissimilar to that which took place in the 1960s. The policy initiatives being developed now bear a striking resemblance to what was being proposed then, most notably the huge dependence that has been placed on the expansion of the medical workforce through the active recruitment of overseas qualified doctors. And, not surprisingly, we are encountering the same problems again — overseas qualified doctors now constitute nearly 60% of new registrations with the General Medical Council (GMC)4 — and the medical press is full of stories about the plight of these doctors. Recent changes to the immigration rules once again complete the repetition of history, as the over expansion of the …