Laws prioritising access to medical training for UK graduates should be extended to refugee doctors, the BMA annual conference has ruled.

Doctors attending the annual representative meeting in Brighton have backed calls to give doctors forced to seek refuge in the UK prioritisation for training places as ‘a matter of compassion, fairness and consistency’.

Speaking to the ARM, specialty doctor in anaesthesia Imran Sharieff (pictured above) said that while the prioritisation bill was designed to ensure UK medical graduates access to training, the legislation had unfairly penalised skilled and experienced refugee doctors.

With these individuals unable to return to their homelands, and in many cases already having experienced huge delays to their training and development, Dr Sharieff called for prioritisation or the creation of a specific career pathway to support them into them into the NHS. 

‘This [motion] is not simply a matter of compassion. It is a matter of fairness and consistency,’ he said.

‘This motion does not seek to undermine UK graduates. It does not seek to create an unfair advantage. It simply recognises that refugee doctors are a small and exceptional group who have already been supported through NHS funded programs, and who have no realistic opportunity to go home and rebuild their careers.

He added: ‘None of us knows what our future holds. If conflict or persecution forces us to flee our homes and rebuild our lives in another country, we would hope to be judged on our skills and our commitment and our contribution, and not necessarily on the circumstances that forced us to leave.’

BMA international committee chair Kitty Mohan said the BMA should seek to press the Government into recognising refugee doctors as a distinct priority group, or else risk leaving this incredibly small yet vulnerable minority ‘permanently disadvantaged’. 

‘These doctors have endured displacement, often unspeakable, often unspeakable tragedy, hardship, and disruption and years of delay to their careers and their professional identity,’ said Dr Mohan.

‘These doctors are already in the UK, they are known to the NHS, they have already proved that they can work safely in UK systems, and many have completed NHS supported education programmes. Excluding them from training wastes both their expertise and NHS investment.’

Introduced in March this year, the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill guarantees prioritised access to foundation and specialty medical training places to graduates from UK medical schools.

Despite refugee doctors making up an incredibly small proportion of the UK’s medical workforce, the law excludes these individuals from being prioritised, unless they meet other specific requires such as holding Indefinite leave to remain status.

Backing the motion, Cardiff resident doctor Abrar Ammar said that recognising the unique challenges faced by refugee doctors was not about granting ‘special treatment’ but simply recognising reality.

‘Refugee doctors didn't choose to leave their countries. They were displaced by war, persecution, and circumstances beyond their control,’ Dr Ammar told the conference. 

‘Many have lost years of training, professional networks, and career opportunities, and despite these challenges, they have worked to rebuild their lives and contribute to the NHS. 

‘We often speak about valuing diversity and supporting vulnerable colleagues, those words must mean something. It can't be right that doctors who have already endured extraordinary hardship are often asked to compete as though they started from the same position as everyone else.’ 

She added: ‘This motion doesn't ask for a special treatment, it asks for equitable treatment. It asks to recognise reality. Refugee doctors have no prospect of returning home to continue the training. 

‘The NHS benefits from their expertise, the resilience, their commitment to patient care, creating further barriers to specialty training will serve neither those doctors nor the patients we care for.’