New figures from the General Medical Council (GMC) show that the vast majority of doctors who have been struck off were trained abroad.
The revelations will add to concerns that NHS patients are not adequately protected from health professionals from countries where training is less rigorous than in the UK, and from those who are unfamiliar with basic medical practices in this country.
The figures, disclosed for the first time and obtained by The Sunday Telegraph using freedom of information laws, show:
- Three quarters of doctors struck off the medical register this year were trained abroad.
- Doctors trained overseas are five times more likely to be struck off than those trained in the UK.
- The country with the biggest single number of doctors who have been removed or suspended from the medical register, is India, followed by Nigeria and Egypt.
