Daily Times newspaper was the first to initiate and highlight the prominent role of frontline foreign medics in the UK’s National Health Services (NHS) during national fight against COVID-19, which has been widely praised by all sections of the British society.
On Monday, Daily Times (DT) published a story about the foreign health workers saving life and a leading and eminent British Barrister Khadim Al’ Hassan highlighted and was the first to propose ‘British citizenship for all NHS foreign medics fighting the pandemic war of COVID-19’.
UK Leading Barrister Khadim Al’Hassan termed the situations as ‘The War against COVID-19. As he believes it has properly been described requires soldiers to fight on the front line. Hussain said during the current case it is the NHS doctors, nurses and the support staff who are fighting the war. He said many are not citizens of the U.K and question would we be asking foreign soldiers to do that in ‘times of war’. He said it is important not only to support all the front line and support staff of the NHS but it would be a humanitarian sign which is both reasonable and proportional by giving them the right to live in the UK as citizens after this.
Since the publication of the story, various campaign and human rights groups have now come forward supporting the idea. They appreciated DT for taking lead in highlighting the issue. In this regards, more than 60 cross-party MPs have called on the government that all foreign national NHS workers risking their lives during the coronavirus pandemic to be awarded indefinite leave to remain in honour of their contributions in this national effort.
The MPs led by the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine and the shadow justice secretary David Lammy have written to the home secretary, Priti Patel, urging her to say that “those who have put their lives at risk for our country are welcome to live in it”. They also want indefinite leave to remain to be extended to the families of foreign nationals working in the NHS.
MPs said that we owe them all an enormous debt for the work they are doing day in day out to save lives. All foreign national NHS workers fighting for our lives during the Covid-19 pandemic are heroes. They should be awarded indefinite leave to remain. “If you are putting your life on the line for our country, then you should be allowed to live here, it’s as simple as that.” They added.
Similarly, UK’s leading newspaper The Guardian on Wednesday published a piece on the issue with headline ‘The NHS needs them’: UK urged to join countries mobilising migrant medics. The report said that several countries have relaxed immigration rules for medically-trained refugees and migrants in the wake of coronavirus and campaigners are calling for Britain to follow suit.
The Guardian giving examples of different countries wrote that in Germany, hundreds of foreign doctors and nurses who don’t yet have licences to practice signed up to work, following callouts from local authorities who promised training. In Spain, the government announced plans last week to fast-track the status of 200 foreign – born doctors and nurses in the country, part of a series of measures put in place since a state of emergency was declared on 14 March.
The paper referring to the neighbouring France says health services can now recruit unverified refugee graduates who are qualified as doctors, dentists or pharmacists in their home countries. According to report, pressure is growing on countries still preventing medically-trained asylum seekers from working including Britain to follow suit by allowing the these foreign doctors to work to care for rising numbers of Covid-19 patients.
