‘You can’t imagine how stressful it was’
From the age of three, Irfan Ali knew that he wanted to be a doctor. Years later his dream of working in medicine became a reality, but his happiness was interrupted when his father, a lawyer, was killed as he drove away from court.
After his father’s death, the gang involved targeted Ali and his family. “They threatened to kidnap my son,” he says. “They threatened us because I was trying to help the police with the case of my father’s murder. We had to go.”
Leaving his home in Pakistan for a new one in Scotland in 2010 meant abandoning the career that he loved. Ali knew he wouldn’t be able to practise medicine in the UK without going through the complex – and expensive – process of achieving General Medical Council (GMC) registration.
But then, in 2015, he heard of the Refugee Doctors’ Programme, a partnership run by NHS Education for Scotland (NES), the Bridges Programmes, BMA Scotland, and Glasgow’s colleges. The scheme supports medically trained refugees to achieve GMC registration and work as doctors.
For refugees like Ali, 45, it is proving to be a lifeline.
“You can’t imagine how stressful it was to be cut off from my profession,” he says. “I had been out of my profession for five years, and thought there was no way back. But now I plan to be a GP. My wife and I like being in Glasgow and our two sons [Emad, 13, and Eshan, seven] have made friends and are so settled at school that I don’t think they’ll ever want to leave.”
‘This programme is a good thing’
In February the Scottish government announced that it would put more than £160,000 towards the programme, which is currently helping more than 30 refugee doctors.
According to Dr Greg Jones, associate postgraduate dean with NES, the initiative will benefit NHS Scotland as well as individuals. “It’s a waste of resource to have medically qualified people knocking around in Scotland who aren’t able to work,” he says. “But there’s also a humanitarian imperative: often doctors identify themselves with the role, and if you stop them from working as doctors you strip away an important part of them. It diminishes them. So from a workforce and a personal point of view, this programme is a good thing.”
Making sure that doctors’ language skills are up to scratch is a vital part of the scheme as they can’t progress unless they score highly in the international English language testing system (Ielts) exam. Once they have achieved this, NES offers financial support to the doctors as they prepare for the GMC’s professional and linguistic assessments board (PLAB) test.
“Ielts is a really tough exam and is a major hurdle,” explains Jones. “So we’re really pleased the Scottish government has funded a programme to help people with that. NES can support them with observerships – where they can spend time, supervised, in the NHS absorbing knowledge – and prepare them for PLAB.
“The clinical attachments have been possible because of the goodwill of various clinicians, both in hospital and general practice, which has been very helpful,” he adds.
The majority of refugee doctors taking part in the Scottish programme are from Syria; others are from Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Pakistan. Around a third are women.
It’s mutually beneficial, says Angela Constance, the Scottish government’s equalities minister. “By giving people a helping hand to utilise their skills we’re not only supporting them to make connections and friendships, and to build a better life, but we will all benefit from those skills too.”
Maggie Lennon, director of the Bridges Programmes, says the funding will smooth the journey to registration. “It’s wonderful to note that at a time where refugees in some parts of the world are not always given such a warm welcome that once again Scotland is showing compassion and practical support.”
‘I cannot imagine myself being anywhere else’
This chimes with the experience of Mohammad Helmi, a Syrian doctor participating in the scheme. “The project funding means it can be tailored to meet our needs in order to bridge the gap in our career path. Getting back into medicine is what I have been looking for since my first day in Scotland, and I cannot imagine myself being anywhere else.”
Jones hopes the refugee doctors will settle in Scotland. “Our experience is that when people come to Scotland, they find they like it. It’s a good place to live and work, and a good place to bring up families.”
Ali has passed the Ielts exam and the first part of the PLAB test. He sits the second part in May and hopes to begin work as a junior doctor for NHS Scotland, prior to entering GP training.
“NES has been very supportive: they have paid for me to take courses prepare for tests, including board, lunch vouchers and travel expenses,” he explains. “And I have been doing placements with a GP practice. It is very interesting to see the differences between the way that doctors work in Scotland and in Pakistan. Here, patients are much more involved in decisions about their care.
Click here to learn more about Scotland’s Refugee Doctor’s Programme.
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