NHS Doctors refused evacuation from Sudan by British Government - DISGUSTING!

[Raggletagglegypsy]

Shameful and shocking that NHS doctors should be turned away from evacuation flights from Sudan, simply because they have British residency, but are not British nationals. Just watching Newsnight on catchup and I was so enraged that I couldn't keep watching. I really hope that this matter has been put right since Newsnight aired yesterday. A medic who served the British people at Manchester Royal Infirmary through the pandemic was escorted out of the airport where he had arrived for evacuation, wanting to return to his work as a registrar. There are apparently over 20 doctors known to be in a similar position (having visited families for Eid - many with young children). The doctor who was interviewed described the situation as "disappointing" - I would use stronger vocabulary.
WE SHOULD ALL BE RAISING THIS WITH OUR MPs TODAY!

Yes it’s shameful. Another had to choose between leaving to seek treatment for sepsis after being shot and leaving his elderly mother behind. What has happened to this country?

No, it indicates that the NHS is in a mess, and that this makes a better, more emotive news story. Now, you have posted on mumsnet suggesting that people raise with their MPs the issue that doctors with residency permits are not getting in ahead of British nationals on repatriation flights. Not that mumnetters contact their MPs to ask that the British government does all they can to help everybody who wishes to return to the UK from Sudan, but that they prioritise doctors.
That's not ok, and I think you realise that.

I didn't saw we shouldn't rescue people - just that some people assessed the risk and decided it was worth it and now it is challenging to get out. They should rescue as many as they can but those who did chose to go over during the conflict knowing the risk would not be highest priority.

morelippy · Today 09:12
I didn't say they shouldn't be helped. I said they shouldn't be treated any differently to anyone else.

Being a doctors doesn't make you more special than any other mother, father”

Would you have put your life on the line every day you went to work during the pandemic? I wouldn’t. They did so I think that does make them pretty special. That goes for all hospital workers.

@Camablanca "They should rightly be at the back of the queue " - but the doctor interviewed said he would have been happy to wait at the back of the queue - he wasn't even given that choice, simply marched out by a soldier. For information, I am not arguing for doctors to be given priority over other occupations - my OP was simply responding to a particular Newsnight story that focused on these cases. I think that anyone who was making a temporary visit to Sudan who would have been readmitted on their return to the UK, should be assisted.

How do you think they would have got into Britain in the first case? Because of their usefulness to the NHS of course. It is more immoral to bring them in because it suits you as they plug gaps (poach them from a developing country that has trained them), let them become residents and settle here, then ditch them when it suits just because they don't hold UK passports.

But surely some of you realise that the state of the NHS right now is a huge concern for most people, and of course there is going to be outrage when a doctor who has worked so hard throughout Covid isn't allowed back into the country to treat his patients.

It's not about 'only' wanting doctors to be evacuated from Sudan, it's about how NHS staff are being increasingly badly treated by this government.That's my take on it, anyway.

Ditching them would involve, for example, there being no pathway to citizenship of the UK after a number of years. That would be ditching them.

Putting them behind British citizens for evacuation is not ditching somebody.

And presumably that's why Newsnight chose doctors rather than binmen.

Binmen should be evacuated too, nobody is saying that they shouldn't be (I hope). Clearly, more can and should be done.

I'm just saying that the NHS is an emotional issue for many at the moment.

But the point of the rescue operation is to rescue British nationals. It's not to rescue Sudanese nationals who have gone home for whatever reasons. I'm of the opinion that going to Sudan was a stupid idea anyway and has been for some while. That whole area is very unstable, yes in an ideal world he would have been allowed on to a plane, but the current ceasefire won't last long and goodness only knows what will happen then. Do the authorities not rescue all British nationals because they are taking Sudanese who are doctors etc.

Yes @darjeelingrose but we ,as a society, already value all individuals differently (it is why earning power varies - perhaps an argument for another day!). We have a huge shortage of doctors and we should, through necessity, be actively valuing those 4,000 Sudanese doctors who are currently working in our NHS (along with the 40% of international medical graduates who make up the NHS workforce)...from a purely self-interested perspective, if nothing else, it is a stupid way for our government to be behaving.

Did the British government send them to Sudan? Or did they go willingly, under their own steam, in the knowledge that it’s a highly volatile part of the world that was ready to descend into civil war at any moment?

Just because they were visiting family for Eid doesn’t mean going in the first place wasn’t a fucking stupid thing to do.

If they chose to go there very recently why should we pick up the cost. It was reckless especially to take young children.

Maybe then we should evacuate any Sudanese medics who turn up, to fill spaces in our NHS? If we are going to get really self interested about it.

Or perhaps a points system for places, so all British residents and nationals are pitted against each other for the next seats out?

They’re not British nationals, doctors are no more important than anyone else anyway.

In a nutshell

We have enough home grown binmen to go round but we are crying out for doctors and we don't repatriate the ones we have. Ludicrous

and of course there is going to be outrage when a doctor who has worked so hard throughout Covid isn't allowed back into the country to treat his patients

His patients. His/her/their - fixed that for you. I despair but am not surprised.

Wtf. Wonder if they’ll admit this is increasing NHS waiting times. Where are they supposed to stay? Afford to live if they can’t work? Utter madness.

Imagine the British government rescuing British nationals first, I mean that's what pretty much every country does.

Many of these know the state of the country but they still decided to go despite this.

If we can rescue others yes but evacuating Sudanese citizens I'd imagine has a dodgy legal ground.

No surprise really for any brown or black person who has jumped through the hoops to get UK residency, then more expensive hoops for citizenship, proving all the while that they are of use in this country....

As for pp who says citizens should not have to prove they can be of use, how do you think we got in here? By proving that we have special skills.

MN generally has no clue about these things.

So it's only doctors you are bothered, by the way we wouldn't be repatriating them, they already did that by being in Sudan.

The rescue mission is risky and limited. It could cease at any moment if the situation worsens. Our troops are human beings, doing what they signed up for, including my son. Please remember this when you speak of Britain. It's not the government doing the job here, it's our sons and daughters. I want them in and out quickly. And I'm angry they could be further targeted if picking up people who went on holiday against advice.

I fully agree with all that. People need to start taking responsibility for themselves.