LONDON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Britain is moving to block foreign doctors from working for the National Health Service.
Starting next month, doctors living outside the European Union won't be eligible to apply for posts through Britain's Highly Skilled Migrants Program. Officials said they need to preserve jobs for British-trained physicians who are graduating from medical school in record numbers, The Times of London said Thursday.
The health service has relied on doctors from countries such as India, Pakistan, South Africa and Australia for decades, the newspaper said. Almost half of the 277,000 doctors registered with Britain's General Medical Council were trained abroad.
Now, however, there are enough British medical school students to fill health service posts. This year, there is expected to be at least three applicants for each open position, with as many as 20 applicants for popular specialties such as surgery, the newspaper said.
