It strikes me that a statistic for the exact number of doctors of foreign origin, and the proportion of these that are Indian/Pakisatni/Muslim origin, would be a useful figure to have here. Likewise, a little analysis on what the absence of these foreigners would mean for the NHS. Its important for both the MMC debate, and this current scrutiny after the failed terror attacks.

Where could I find such figures?

“The disparate group of eight people seem linked only by two things, being Muslim and medicine.”

and horrible taste in curtain fabric.

… and Patricia Hewitt of course.

Apart from the following:

Members of British Muslim medical groups, such as Dr Abdula Shehu of the Muslim Doctors Association, are afraid there will be a backlash against Muslim doctors.

There might be a backlash against Asian doctors in general, considering the large numbers of the public who can’t differentiate between us in terms of religion. This is of course exacerbated by the recent trend in the media to automatically conflate “Asian” with “Muslim”, and use the term interchangeably.

Also, this point is something I’m afraid I don’t agree with either:

To me, this sounds improbable. Doctors can’t be picked out on the street – most people know doctors via being treated by them. I doubt people will suddenly assume their family GP Dr Hussain is a terrorist.

Don’t be too sure about that. It gets even scarier when you consider exactly how many Asian doctors there are in the UK — the number’s absolutely huge. The repercussions could be very worrying indeed if Average Joe becomes paranoid about all this.

Speaking as someone whose father’s a doctor, working in a hospital packed full of Muslim doctors (mostly Asian, but increasingly from the Middle East these days), and whose parental social circles consist of large numbers of Asian doctors too.

You can’t blame me for worrying about the fallout from current events.

Now it kinda strikes me as weird that no one has mentioned that if a doctor wanted to kill a lot of people – a hellova lot of people – and scare 60 million people to death, all he would need to do is, say, use the tools at his disposal?

That’s the elephant in the room which we’re all aware of but is really horrific to mention out loud.

…..Considering all the drugs, toxins, and life-threatening bacteria/viruses such an individual would have access to.

Now it kinda strikes me as weird that no one has mentioned that if a doctor wanted to kill a lot of people – a hellova lot of people – and scare 60 million people to death, all he would need to do is, say, use the tools at his disposal?

They worked in hospitals: they would have had access to the path lab, to the morgue, to the incinerator, diseased limbs, viral swabs, bacterial cultures. These can cause far more damage than two car bombs. In fact, all he needs to do is not wash his hands on a known MRSA ward, and he’s going to transmit something that could make people very ill indeed.

If you are going to kill old folks in an airport, you will kill them in a hospital bed as well. I think someone should implement an enquiry into whether some ‘action’ also occurred in these men’s workplaces as well.

Adhikar, an organisation of British Asians advocating civil liberties,
has asked for the urgent removal of Dr Mohammed Abdul Bari from the
board of the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) as he has been
reported to have praised and welcomed the work of Muslims who hold
extremist and fundamentalist views.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of
Britain, who is a member of LOCOG along with Lord Sebastian Coe, the
Princess Royal and others has, according to a report in the Daily
Telegraph, welcomed to the opening of the London Muslim Centre, Sheikh
Abdul Rehman al Sudais. According to the report, Sheikh al Sudais the
Saudi-government-appointed imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca,
described Jews as ‘scum of the earth,’ ‘rats of the world’ and
‘monkeys and pigs who should be annihilated.’ The Telegraph further
states, “Yet, criticize al Sudais, and Mohammed Abdul Bari leaps
furiously to his defence.”

Mohammed Abdul Bari, already has a record of hosting at his mosque the
Bangladeshi fanatic Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, who has called for
American soldiers to be “buried in the soil of Iraq.”
Adhikar condemns the continuing presence of Dr Bari in the London 2012
Organising Committee, which is charged with delivering its vision to
“to stage inspirational Games that capture the imagination of young
people around the world and leave a lasting legacy.” Adhikar fails to
understand how a man who supports extremist and fundamentalist views
can sit on a Committee that has a duty to inspire young people.
London 2012 Organising Committee members are expected to deliver a
‘Cultural Olympiad’ – a festival celebrating the diversity and
richness of culture in London, the UK and around the world.
Adhikar would like to know how a person who supports extremist and
fundamentalist views like Dr Bari, and who comes from an organisation
that has been shown to have deep links with extremist groups can
contribute to the celebration of diversity and richness of culture in
London, UK and around the world.

The MCB is an organization whose ideological roots are found in the
ambitions and ideals of Mualana Maududi, who sought a global
revolution to achieve an Islamic state governed by sharia law. Iqbal
Sacranie, the former secretary general of the MCB, who was knighted
despite holding radical Muslim views, first distinguished himself by
arguing when Iran issued a fatwa against the novelist Salmon Rushdie
that for him “death was perhaps too easy.” As head of the Muslim
Council of Britain, he argued for criminalizing the phrase “Islamic
terrorist” and lead a boycott of Britain’s Holocaust memorial day.
The MCB’s Deputy Secretary General Inayat Bunglawala has also praised
Maududi.

The Muslim Council of Britain played a key role in welcoming Sheikh
Yusuf al Qaradawi, to a meeting organized by Ken Livingstone, the
mayor of London. Qaradawi has supported suicide bombing against
Israelis, the treatment of all Jews as legitimate targets, the
whipping of homosexuals and the killing of all Americans — civilian
and military — in Iraq, and the unleashing of jihad (holy war)
against Hindus as wholly legitimate. Even though such ideology is
clearly has extremist undertones, the MCB leapt to defend Sheikh
Qaradwi. When a group was formed to expose the link between Qaradawi
and the Mayor, representatives of the MCB are reported to have lobbied
with non-Jewish members of the group to stop their opposition of Ken
Livingstone and Sheikh Qaradawi.

Iqbal Sacranie was knighted despite being listed as a trustee of a
global alliance of Islamic charities called the Union of Good, chaired
by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has said of the Israel-Palestine
conflict: “We must plant the love of death in the Islamic nation.”

Like al-Qaradawi, several of Sacranie’s fellow trustees are members or
supporters of Hamas and have extolled the theological virtues of
suicide bombing directed at civilians in the Israel-Palestine
conflict. According to Muslim Weekly, the new deputy MCB secretary-
general, Daud Abdullah, referred to Hamas as “we” at a recent
Trafalgar Square rally.

Melanie Phillips, columnist and journalist said in an interview: “The
MCB is an extremist body, much influenced by the work of the Islamist
idealogue Syed al Maududi. It pretends to moderation, and is regarded
as a legitimate community interlocutor by the British government, but
it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. In fact, that sheepish covering is
currently looking even more threadbare since its new head, Mohammed
Abdul Bari, said cheerfully in a recent interview that the MCB’s aim
was the Islamisation of Britain and that everyone should have arranged
marriages. The MCB is in turn an umbrella movement for a large number
of Muslim organisations, any of which are even more extreme.

Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, attacked the Muslim Council of
Britain (MCB) for boycotting Holocaust Memorial Day, criticising
police anti-terrorist operations and “sitting on the sidelines” in the
campaign against extremists.

Adhikar fails to understand how the secretary-general of such an
organization could be appointed to the London 2012 Organising
Committee that is meant to inspire and engage with the youth of the
country to promote a culture of diversity. A man who is inspired by
the extremist and fundamentalist views of al-Sudaid, Maududi, al-
Qaradawi and Delwar Hussain is hardly fit to sit on such a body with
Lord Coe and the Princess Royal. Do we want the youth of our country
to be inspired by their views?

and horrible taste in curtain fabric.

“Mohammed Asha topped his class several times”

And no one noticed?!

so at the expense of sounding simplistic – what’s your take on why the heck they went and got rid of those jobs? i mean money is always used as an excuse, but really.

I guess what i was also wondering if they are trying to get PLAB types – who have experience overseas – to jump into consultant positions here ( if the junior doctors here aren’t getting any training, they might have to go off somewhere else too to get training, then come back to be a consultant?) either which way it sounds all pretty shit to me. what the heck are these politicians about? all talk and no action.

Doctor, Doctor! I’ve got a tick
Where are you calling from?
The UK
Don’t worry, it won’t go off

Doctor, Doctor! I want to kill my father.
Who is your father?
Peter Andre
Well, you did live in Jordan

Doctor, Doctor! I want to kill myself
Oh don’t be such a martyr

Doctor Doctor! Wheeeee. I think I’m an aeroplane
Oh blow up

Sonia. Thanks for the good luck. The days you were talking about are sadly over. I went into medicine with the promise I’ll “always have a job”. Patricia Hewitt saw fit to butcher training here (admittedly, the Modernising Medical Careers scheme wasn’t her idea) and about 22,000 jobs existed for 30,000 junior doctors this year. Many of my friends are brilliant doctors with no job as of next month.

There are less posts. But! The PLABs are being held more often! Go figure. India (by far the top overseas doc-supplier) is running more sessions than ever before. Doctors are being promised jobs and arriving to find nothing. I’m saddened none of this made more of a dent in the news, other than Channel 4 which covered it superbly.

Douglas, you are right – there is still a shortage of doctors, but consultants and GPs. One of the reasons they tried to mend what wasn’t broken – they’re trying to fast-track me to being a consultant or GP, without letting me get the necessary training. I might end up operating on your Mum with about 6000 theatre hours instead of 30,000.

Docterrorist jokes are called for Kismet. I’ve already been on a roll at work. My best involved “explosive diarrhoea”.

Squared I’m not necessarily suggesting that doctors should be quizzed on their political allegiances – but as far as I can tell (I might be wrong and I’m not sure where to look) they face less checks than other ‘highly skilled’ migrants.

Golam you sound like a medic – you’re dead right that being a doctor doesn’t make you automatically intelligent in a worldly sense. It does, by definition, make you highly educated as it’s a long undergraduate degree with necessary postgrad qualifications. Many doctors live an insular life. But if someone is learned in the arts, history etc, as you mention, does that preclude them from becoming a nutter?

its pretty obvious with the whole asian doctor thing that a very large no. of people go for it for the whole prestige and honour thing, and cos their parents made ‘em do it.

Can I make doctor, doctor jokes now?