Refugees among hundreds of overseas medics to respond to NHS call

[Northerner]

Hundreds of foreign-born doctors, including refugees, have signed up to become medical support workers as part of a new scheme aimed at helping the NHS tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

NHS England launched the initiative for international medical graduates and doctors after calls to fast track the accreditation of overseas medics.

The NHS plans to deploy the workers, who have passed an English language exam, in small numbers initially.

The UN’s refugee chief this week called for more countries to allow refugee medical professionals to tackle the health crisis.

Filippo Grandi, the UN High commissioner for refugees, has praised the “selfless determination” of medical professionals who have already responded.

Refugees among hundreds of overseas medics to respond to NHS call

Scheme allowing doctors to join as medical support workers is welcomed but calls to ‘permit doctors to work as doctors’ persist

www.theguardian.com

 

[mikeyB]

You can’t but admire refugees with medical qualifications for opting to work in the deadly environment of an NHS with insufficient protective gear. Hats off.

 

[nonethewiser]

Splendid, brave people, nowt but admiration.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

You can’t but admire refugees with medical qualifications for opting to work in the deadly environment of an NHS with insufficient protective gear. Hats off.

Agreed. Particularly when you note the proportion of BAME medical staff that have been severely affected - I have no idea what is behind the disproportion of deaths, but I would imagine it is quite frightening if you belong to a similar ethnic group.

 

[mikeyB]

The only difference between us and BAME folk is skin colour. Is Vit D the explanation?

 

[trophywench]

If that were true Mikey, BAME chaps wouldn't be 4x more likely to get prostate cancer than white blokes, but they are.

 

[mikeyB]

Nobody knows for certain how many white blokes or black blokes get prostate cancer. If you do detailed post mortems (I was taught by an eminent urologist) you can find evidence of prostate cancer in around 50% of the male population. Nobody knows why it follows a different progression in different people.

And the skewed infection and death rate is among Asian (Caucasian) health workers or doctors. We are Caucasian too. We are much the same, apart from skin colour.