Thousands of Indian doctors in the United Kingdom, rendered jobless after the government decided to give preference to European medics in the state-run health service, are "quietly optimistic" of getting a favourable verdict from the country's highest court following a day-long hearing into the matter.
"We are quietly optimistic that we will win this appeal though the verdict may take a few weeks," Lakshman Raman, Vice-President of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) representing thousands of doctors, said in a statement.
He said during the hearing on Thursday before the Law Lords, the Department of Health did not have any new points to make, "so we are not sure why they decided to go to the House of Lords when three Justices had upheld our appeal that it was wrong of Department of Health to misinterpret the HSMP (Highly Skilled Migrant Programme) rules."
Without consulting HSMP visa holders, the Department of Health had directed the state-funded National Health Service to consider non-European Applicants for jobs only if there were no suitable graduates from the EU or Britain.
Ramesh Mehta, President of BAPIO, said, "Having heard the arguments of the Department of the Health, we feel their arguments were so weak they are wasting our time and causing more confusion among the international medical graduates as well as employing hospitals. Our case was presented brilliantly by Rabinder Singh, QC."
The Health Department had earlier appealed against the October 2007 order of the Appeals Court in favour of the BAPIO which championed the cause of the Indian doctors who came here under the HSMP. BAPIO has 6,000 members and represents a further 25,000 Indian doctors in the UK.
Five senior judges - the Law Lords - who are also members of the House of Lords heard the arguments from both sides on Thursday and their verdict would decide the future of the Indian doctors who have found themselves in a limbo following the abrupt changes in the HSMP regulations in March 2006.
The health department effected the changes to accommodate medical graduates from the 27-nation
The BAPIO took the government to court arguing that the changes were discriminatory and unlawful as the Indian and other international doctors who came to Britain on HSMP visas were entitled to be treated on par with their British and EU applicants. BAPIO lost the case in November 2006 but took it to the Court of Appeal, and won in October 2007.
The Appeals Court had refused permission to the Health Department to take the case to the House of Lords but it went ahead to the apex court and appealed in the name of Minister of State for Health Alan Johnson.
The House of Lords is expected to reach a final verdict on the Department's appeal in April or May.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Department of Health said: "It can cost up to 250,000 pounds to train a UK medical student and, with the increase in UK medical schools, we are moving to a policy of self-sufficiency.
"If UK medical graduates cannot access specialist training because of a large number of applicants from outside Europe, then it is only right that we should consider what needs to be done," he said.
"Most other countries give a priority to their own medical school graduates when appointing to specialist training posts," the spokesman added.
