Hundreds of 'Bengaluru doctru' working in UK

BANGALORE: ''Guru, naanu Bengaluru,'' (I too am from Bangalore) is not just a phrase being mouthed by techies catching up in California or other parts of the US. It is ringing across hospitals in the United Kingdom too.
Hundreds of doctors from Bangalore — mostly those just out of college — have been snapped up by the UK''s National Health Services in recent times.
From the Bangalore Medical College''s batch which passed out in 1996 alone, there are 40 doctors in the UK at present, reports a doctor from the batch.
Nearly 25 post-graduates in anaethesiology from BMC have reached English shores in the past five years, say officials from the college. Several more from colleges in the City are currently preparing to make a beeline.
"At every hospital you will find at least two doctors from Bangalore. To hear Kannada being spoken by doctors is quite common. I had no feeling of homesickness when I landed in London a year ago," says Dr Diwakar, a BMC graduate currently in the City for a New Year break from training to be a psychiatrist under the NHS in the UK.
With the UK running short of doctors due to a slew of retirements, expansion of medical services, as well as a shortage of medical students, the NHS has been steadily snapping up Indian doctors in recent times.
According to estimates made in UK, at least 4,700 doctors are set to retire in the next eight years and there is also a likely shortage of 10,000 more doctors.
"The UK has adopted European work hours which requires doctors to work for 48 hours a week instead of 56 hours. This has also created the space for more doctors," says Dr Diwakar.
As much as 30 per cent of doctors in the NHS are Indians and an increasing number of the latest recruits are from Bangalore or Karnataka.
Doctors specialising in anaesthesia, radiology, psychiatry, or willing to do so, are the most sought after in the freshers and less experienced category.
The NHS has also thrown open its arms for doctors from other specialities with experience of 10 years and above. As a result, several medical colleges in Karnataka are losing professors and teachers as well.
"Doctors who have been professors in anaethesia, radiology, psyhciatry in India tend to be well qualified to function as consultants and are paid fancy amounts. In the case of post-graduates, most people tend to write the first set of exams for the NHS when they are in the first year itself," says a professor from the Bangalore Medical College.
Under the NHS system a fresher earns as much 3000 pounds (Rs 2.4 lakh) per month working relatively relaxed hours. Training is provided on the job in most cases and while the work is not hectic it demands immaculate documentation and record keeping, say doctors.
NHS has been a preferred destination for Indian doctors since its inception during the post-world war period. It encouraged the migration of doctors at a very large scale during the early 1960s.