INDIAN doctors are to be

given the opportunity of gaining experience in the NHS after the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) announced a new international fellowship programme.

The agreement between the college’s international training fellowships and the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origins (BAPIO) will help them gain experience at core and higher specialist levels in UK hospitals.

BAPIO will select quality candidates from institutions and medical schools on the subcontinent following recommendations from a potential applicant’s faculty and lecturers.

Once the Indian doctors have gone through a period of specialist training in UK hospitals, they will return home to pursue their

medical careers with enhanced

skills and experience.

Mentor consultants in each NHS employer participating in the scheme will be selected to act as a first point of contact for successful candidates.

BAPIO and the college will also appoint separate mentors.

The fellowships will bring an added benefit to the NHS, as the Indian doctors will help fill vacant medical training posts in the NHS for a period of between two and

four years.

RCPE president, Professor Derek Bell, said: “In the UK, there are currently too many unfilled medical trainee positions. But yet we recognise that there is genuine appetite in India to gain skills and experience in the UK’s world-leading health service.

“This is an important agreement, therefore, as it fulfils both of these requirements.

“The college’s role is to support the successful candidates, sponsor them as they apply for General Medical Council registration, and to work closely with BAPIO to ensure that they benefit as much as possible from the programme.”

Professor Parag Singhal, BAPIO’s honorary secretary and chair of its training academy, said: “These are exciting times. India has more doctors than it can offer post-graduate training and UK has vacant training spaces. Both countries can complement each other and learn a lot from each other.”

Its president, Dr Ramesh Mehta, added: “This is a very important collaboration between a prestigious UK Royal College and BAPIO to ensure that Indian doctors coming for training to UK get first-class learning experience.”