NRI DIARY

OTHER STORIES RELATED TO NRI DIARY London Diary India Calling Personality: Spiritual Quest The Arts: Raw By Design Cinema: American Release Looking Glass Living: Opportunities Abroad American Round Up Weekly Round Up Business: Indian Invasion Living: Seal Of Acceptance Trend: Basement Beats

Move over it geeks! The new favourites of the UK's recruiting firms are Indian nurses and doctors. With most of their British and American clients falling on hard times, the demand for it professionals has slumped. On the other hand, hospitals in the UK are facing a major shortage of health professionals. The increasing fire that the National Health Service (NHS) is coming under has prompted the new Labour Government to promise to provide an extra 20,000 nurses by 2004. The only way to make that happen is to encourage foreign nurses to come and work in Britain. The result: recruitment firms have found a new, lucrative channel to survive.

Seeing the current call for medical professionals as an opportunity in the days of an it-slump, leading it recruiting firm Davenport jumped in to use its recruitment expertise in the health sector. "The new Labour Government has promised to boost the NHS with more nurses and about 12,000 doctors. I thought it would be a good market to get into-lucrative and recession proof. You will always need nurses and doctors because people keep falling ill," reasons the CEO of Davenport, Anu Dhebar.

NRI DIARY

THE GRUDGES NURSED # Being asked to pay a large amount to the recruiting agency after the prospective employer has already paid up the recruitment costs. # Being pressured on arrival to sign an alternative employment contract with less favourable terms than the one offered on recruitment. # Threats of deportation or legal action for breaking a contract. # The employer illegally holding one's travel documents. # The exploitative rates of pay-qualified nurses are brought in on care assistant work permits and are paid minimal salaries. # Poor quality adaptation period. # Too many or illegal penalty clauses. # Compulsory fixed term contracts.

The move seems to be paying off. And for the abundant, qualified professionals in India, a wonderful opportunity has opened up to work in London and gain experience in the West.

In 1999, just 30 nurses from India were registered in the UK. The number went up to 96 in 2000 and jumped to 288 in 2001. This year, the United Kingdom Central Council (UKCC) for Nursing has registered over 15,000 nurses-many of them from the EU, but a large number also from the Philippines, South Africa and Australia, and now an increasing number from India.

Marking the trend, Stewart Skyte of the UKCC says: "We have observed a steady rise in the number of nurses from India while the number coming from the European Union has stabilised. Indian nurses are hard working and have good language skills."

Nurses from India must go through a 'conversion course' comprising a series of tests that can be taken in India. Once they qualify, they are required to work for four to six months in a British nursing home before they are inducted into the NHS. Highlighting the attractions of working in the UK, Dhebar says, "Indian nurses earn about Rs 3,500 to Rs 5,000 in India, whereas here they start at £1,100 per month. After six months, when they get into the NHS, the salary also improves. Most come for international exposure and better lifestyle." Davenport prefers recruiting from India and Pakistan because it sees Indian nurses and doctors as being "far more educated and oriented towards patients," observes Dhebar.

However, life in Britain is not always easy for foreign nurses, especially if they have darker skin. Most do not complain much, but some leave within six months, unable to suffer the discrimination in the system. Anne Thomas, who has worked as an NHS nurse for six months returned to India because she felt she was ill treated at the hospital. A qualified nurse, she was made to do menial jobs. She applied for a promotion, confident of performing the job successfully, but was denied the post in favour of a white colleague.

Another problem many Indian nurses face on arrival is that of getting accommodation. In most cases, they have to pay £2000 up front to housing associations. "Many shy away from coming to the UK when they hear about the initial investment. Of those who are affirmed, only 50 per cent actually accept," says Dhebar.

A release by the Royal College of Nursing noted that on arrival nurses are subjected to discriminatory and illegal practices in the NHS and in independent sector employment. Five Filipino nurses, who worked in a private nursing home in Northamptonshire, were exploited by an agency that put pressure on them to sign bond agreements-which meant they would incur heavy penalties should they try to leave before their contract expired. They were paid only £4 per hour when covering for sick or absent care assistants, rather than the £6.75 they should have been paid as registered nurses.

However, some nurses like Gurjeet Randhawa, 28, is still optimistic. A qualified nurse from Chandigarh, she says, "In India I did not have much opportunity. People don't respect nurses and the pay is not very high. Here, I am sure to get upgraded after six months." Nor has she experienced racism here. "I have heard that black nurses have problems but I have had none so far," she says.

Estimates put at 3,600 nurses and midwives from other countries working in British Hospitals. The countries include the Philippines, South Africa, New Zealand, Finland among others. The annual wage is believed to be about £72 million but there are no official figures for recruitment costs.

"We have to work out how to improve conditions and retain more UK nurses. We are too dependent on overseas nurses at the moment, and it's difficult because some countries, like South Africa have requested that the UK stop recruiting its nurses, fearing a shortfall in their country," says a Royal College of Nursing spokesperson.

Improving public services has been high on the Government's agenda. The latest initiative to improve public sector morale is to offer nurses, teachers and police officers financial assistance in buying their first home in areas where high house prices are undermining recruitment and retention. To facilitate recruitment of overseas nurses, the home office gives a work permit on receiving an appointment letter from a hospital under its fast-track system.

Earlier this year, meetings were held in New Delhi between officials from the British Department of Health and their Indian counterparts to discuss the recruitment of nurses. This opened the door to agencies and the NHS to hire nursing staff from India, and the agreement is expected to extend to general practitioners as well.

Not since the 1960s has the British government approached India for assistance with labour shortages. That appeal had resulted in the first large wave of immigration. But unlike then, when the call was primarily for unskilled workers, the current drive is for experienced medical professionals.

"We won't recruit from a country where doing so would have an adverse effect on local health services," says an official at the British Health Department. "We don't want to cause a 'brain drain', especially in developing countries. But there are some countries with a surplus and we have to take the governments into consultation."

Speaking about recruitment of doctors to fill the shortage in the NHS, Dr Paul Butcher says, "Pays are being revised and other changes are being made to attract more doctors." However, Butcher believes that recruiting doctors and nurses from foreign countries is a short-term solution. "For doctors from the Third World countries, it is an opportunity to gain experience here. But I don't look at this as a long-term solution. The British Government should improve working conditions here and pay a higher salary. The work hours should also be reduced," he adds.

Dr Surendra Kumar, chairman of the Overseas Doctors Association warns that the conditions have to be right before Indian consultants are recruited. "The NHS doesn't have much to offer. They have to offer better terms and working conditions to overseas doctors than they have in the past," he says.