Your editorial is correct in calling attention to the longstanding failure to fund enough training places for doctors and nurses (The Guardian view on repairing the NHS: ministers are the problem, 7 February).
Last year, 59% of new registrations to the General Medical Council register in England had been trained by other countries, and this number continues to rise, highlighting how far short we are in fulfilling our commitment to the World Health Organization code of practice on the international recruitment of health personnel to ensure an adequate domestic supply of health workers so that we cease to weaken health systems in low-and middle-income countries by actively recruiting their precious doctors and nurses on such an industrial scale.
The number of medical student training places in the UK needs to double. This should not be as expensive to Treasury as feared, as the current putative costs are artificially set and do not reflect actual expenditure incurred by student training, either in the universities or in the health service.
Prof Rachel Jenkins
Former director, WHO Collaborating Centre, King’s College London 1997-2012
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