Myanmar doctors and British Health Service

Nowadays, more and more Myanmar doctors are working in British hospitals across the UK. I believe there are at least one or two Myanmar doctors working in each hospital. In fact, that number is nothing compared with Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshi doctors who have been major contributors of National Health Service in Britain.

Basically there are two kinds of Myanmar doctors in the UK, based on their origin. The first group is those who came in with their own money. Most are young graduates. They do not join government service in Burma. Once they complete their 1 year internship, they come to Britain. They sit General medical council's PLAB test to be eligible to practise in the UK.

Another group is those who came with Myanmar government scholarship programme. After achieving master degree in Burma, they need to take selection exam. Ministry of Health selects the candidates with highest scores and send them to UK for further degrees,such as MRCP, MRCOG. Government provide them £5000 as scholarship award, as far as I know. For those from Myanmar defence service, they get extra money from Myanmar army Medical department. They are supposed to go back to Myanmar after 2-3 years. Majority go back. But some did not.

One interesting thing is that there are 2 types of Myanmar passport, Red and Green. The red one is for general public and the green one is for government officials. The latter is also issued to Myanmar scholarship doctors. It is only 3 years valid and not renewable. That is problem for those who want to stay in Britain for more than that duration. Some have not achieved intended degree. Some have achieved, but do not want to go back for some reasons (main reasons are a high salary and a better life style in Britain). Pay for a junior doctor is from about £25,000 to £34,000 annum. Around £40-50K for middle grade doctor and over £70K a year for consultant level doctors. According to my close friend, some doctors have a very good relationship with Myanmar passport authority. So they were able to change their green passport with normal red one which is renewable.

Ok, I'm just sharing what I know. For me, whoever they are, I like to see more and more Burmese doctors in west as Burmese community is still tiny. At the same time, I have a concern about care of patients in Burma. But I console myself with the though that there have been 3 medical schools with enough production in Burma.