His colleague, Lord Taylor of Harlow, added, 'They are here to provide pairs of hands in the rottenest, worst hospitals in the country because there is nobody else to do it.'

Despite such handsome expressions of verbal support, research into the NHS's functioning since its inception is full of examples of ethnic minority doctors, including Indians, who complained with some justification of discrimination.
In his 2005 William Pickles lecture, Dr Aneez Esmail cited research published in 1993 that showed how British qualified ethnic minorities with the same qualifications as their white colleagues were half as likely to be shortlisted for senior house officer jobs. The situation still persisted long after.

Dr Esmail went on to note that reviewing all cases brought before the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) of the General Medical Council (GMC) between 1982 and 1991, 'I was able to show that ethnic minority doctors were six times more likely to be brought before the PCC when compared with their white colleagues.

'I noted that in the 10 years of cases that I examined, ethnic minority doctors were nearly 12 times more likely to be brought before the PCC and charged with indecent behaviour when compared with white doctors…
'Finally, I showed that ethnic minority doctors were over 30 times more likely to be charged with “improper demand for fees”. Can we believe that the charge of improper demand for fees is the prerogative of only ethnic minority doctors, or are people more ready to make this specific complaint against ethnic minority doctors than white doctors?'

Although Dr Esmail's research is more than a decade old, more recent examples of alleged discrimination continue to come to public attention.

In 2004 five Asian origin doctors who claimed the British Medical Association (BMA) racially discriminated against them settled their case for £130,000.

The doctors were Fahtima Farook from Cardiff, Sheedhar Vasdo Vaidya from the East Midlands, Kumar Ghosh from Manchester, Vijay Jadhav from Kingston upon Thames and Vanlila Bera from Birmingham. They claimed the BMA failed to offer them legal assistance in cases of racial discrimination at work.
The BMA, for its part, denied liability but said it had decided to pay £130,000, shared between the five, to 'draw a line' under the case.

Dr Farook, from Cyncoed in Wales, who complained of harassment and bullying, explained she had contacted the BMA 17 times in four months to get help. 'I didn't know the legal definitions of harassment or bullying  what I wanted from the BMA was to sit down with them and try and differentiate what was what,' she said. 'As far as we are concerned the BMA is a valued organisation and we need it and there was no point attempting to destroy the organisation. We thought a settlement was the best way forward for all parties.'

Lawyer Ghazan Mahmood, who represented four of the doctors, said at the time, 'This was not about the money; it was about the fact that doctors will fight back if they are being badly treated by their union.

'It's no coincidence that very highly qualified people are deciding to take a stand. They are pushing forward because they have put up with years of mental abuse.' He added that the BMA had a 'closed mind' when it came to backing claims of racial discrimination.

Continuing professional concerns about how Indian doctors are treated have prompted BAPIO to launch its new project, Medical Defence Shield (MDS), to offer advice as well as representation on complaints of bullying, harassment and discrimination.

Commenting on the new project, BAPIO president Dr Ramesh Mehta said, 'MDS is an innovative and daring concept to ensure that doctors and dentists working in the NHS receive fair and just treatment!'

BAPIO Vice-chair Satheesh Mathew added, 'It is not an exaggeration to say that traditional institutions have been known to drag their feet when it comes to supporting international medical graduates. We could not just remain idle when a colleague is given severe punishment in areas where a programme of training or mentoring support was all that was required.'

The BAPIO initiative follows reports that a disproportionately high number of ethnic minority doctors in the UK continue to be reported to the GMC for professional misconduct. Many of them, BAPIO believes, face disciplinary charges for comparatively minor issues that could be resolved with adequate supervision and support.

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