A qualitative study exploring factors influencing Indian doctors to migrate to the United Kingdom

A qualitative study exploring factors influencing Indian doctors to migrate to the United Kingdom

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Background Migration of doctors from India to UK has been a known occurrence since post-colonial era.WHO has expressed concerns on migration of medical professionals from resource limited countries to developed countries as it can impair public health performance of source countries.Aim To explore factors influencing migration of Indian doctors to UK through qualitative one to one semi-structured interviews.Methods 12 one to one semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 male and 6 female Indian doctors who have been working in UK for between three to ten years, identified through snowball sampling.

Thematic analyses was conducted to explore emerging themes explaining influencing factors for migration.Results The desire to seek post graduate and higher specialist training among doctors, unequal and highly competitive post graduate Shirt training opportunities in India, unethical practices in private healthcare, marriage with UK settled person and poor work life balance in India acted as major push factors for migration of doctors to UK.Higher specialization opportunities, surplus jobs, accommodative health system and better work life balance acted as major pull factors for migration.Most doctors expressed non-recognition of UK training in India and lack of government support as major deterrent factors for returning to India.

Conclusion Migration of chocolate chip cookie purse doctors from India to UK is a complex phenomenon which is driven by inherent system differences and doctors seeking better opportunities abroad.It is also culturally facilitated by colonial relations and can be a potential augmented human resource bank for India if government policies accommodate them into their health system.