I hope some of these one hundred and twenty doctors can return to serve in Myanmar one day.

Jamie

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Medical support worker scheme enables 127 doctors to join NHS after escaping Myanmar coup
Elisabeth Mahase
BMJ 2022; 376 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o404 (Published 16 February 2022)
BMJ 2022;376:o404

A scheme set up to help retired doctors assist in the pandemic has been repurposed—to the benefit of refugees and the NHS staffing crisis, reports Elisabeth Mahase

More than 120 doctors who escaped the coup in Myanmar have been able to stay in the UK and take up clinical roles in the NHS while working towards full medical registration through the medical support worker (MSW) scheme.

The MSW scheme, which began in 2020 and has seen more than 400 clinicians join the NHS, was introduced in response to covid-19 to enable mainly retired doctors to rejoin the workforce without General Medical Council (GMC) registration. However, local workforce leaders soon realised that it could also be used to help refugee and international doctors in the time between entering the UK and gaining full GMC registration—a process that can take years.1

More than 50 doctors from Myanmar are now working as MSWs in London, and more than 70 are working in trusts in the south west of England. MSWs work in the NHS under supervision and can assist with patient care, clinical observations, diagnostic or therapeutic procedures, clinical audits, and quality improvement projects. The role comes with a salary of around £30 000 (€35 800; $40 700) a year.

Health leaders have praised the scheme as an important workforce pipeline and a crucial support system for these doctors but are concerned that funding has been promised only until March 2022. The BMJ understands that the scheme’s funding is currently under review, although NHS England did not respond to requests for further information.

Doctors targeted in coup
Myanmar’s third military coup in 60 years began on 1 February 2021. Within a day, many of the country’s doctors announced that they would not accept the regime’s orders and started peaceful demonstrations, including strikes. Their involvement in the civil disobedience movement …

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https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o404