HC Deb 20 February 1973 vol 851 cc220-1
26. Mr. Cyril Smith

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will cause inquiries to be made as to the number of Pakistani doctors who entered Great Britain when Pakistan was in the Commonwealth but have subsequently been refused full registration as doctors, due to Pakistan leaving the Commonwealth between their entry to this country and registration; and if he will also explain why similar regulations do not apply to doctors from South Africa.

Mr. Alison

As I explained in my reply to the hon. Member on 30th January, the entitlement of overseas practitioners to full registration depends, first, on the existence of an order applying Part III of the Medical Act 1956 to the country of origin. An order reapplying these provisions to South Africa after its departure from the Commonwealth was made in 1962—the Medical Practitioners (Republic of South Africa) Order 1962, Statutory Instrument 1962 No. 1090.

I regret that the information asked for in the first part of the Question could not be obtained, if at all, without disproportionate cost.—[Vol. 849, c. 371.]

Mr. Smith

When does the hon. Gentleman propose to make for Pakistan a similar order to that for South Africa to which he has referred? How soon may we expect such an order to be made? Does he agree that the best qualification for a doctor is that which he has obtained rather than his country of origin or the colour of his skin? Does not the Minister understand that some of us find it extremely strange that a doctor from a country which apractises apartheid should be recognised while a doctor from a multi-racial country is not?

Mr. Alison

I think the hon. Gentleman knows that we were able to make a rapid application of the order relating to South Africa because we had some notice of its impending withdrawal from the Commonwealth.

The answer to the first part of his supplementary question is "As soon as practicable", and I hope soon. There is nothing to prevent doctors seeking temporary registration which enables them to fill hospital posts. This is what the relatively few doctors affected by the Pakistan limitation are doing.

Mr. Fletcher-Cooke

Is not a serious principle involved in this question, namely, the skills of the doctors concerned? Is it not the fact that the General Medical Council has got into the mess that it has because it has not examined the individual skills of the doctors but has taken blanket qualifications in the place of origin?

Mr. Alison

The qualification that a man holds has to be recognised by the General Medical Council as one of the conditions for obtaining employment here. Furthermore, a practitioner who satisfies all the necessary qualification requirements of the 1956 Act will not be granted full registration straight away unless he can also show that he has acquired acceptable experience—generally a year in a hospital.

Mr. Stonehouse

Does the hon. Gentleman accept the principle that although Pakistan must certainly suffer the disadvantages of its unwise decision to leave the Commonwealth, the disadvantages should not be applied to individual Pakistanis who were in this country prior to that decision?

Mr. Alison

I recognise that we want to do everything possible to apply the inexorable processes of law with due humanity; but, as I said to my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Darwen (Mr. Fletcher-Cooke), in practice there is nothing to prevent Pakistani doctors who are caught in this way seeking temporary registration as a perfectly viable way out of the predicament, whilst continuing to work in hospitals until this business is cleared up.

Sir J. Rodgers

Apart from the qualifications of doctors from abroad, may I ask my hon. Friend whether due regard is paid to their knowledge of English?

Mr. Alison

One of the present requirements is that somebody coming from overseas to practise medicine in this country must satisfy the basic requirements of competence and ability to communicate by working, if necessary, for up to a year in a British hospital.