[যুক্তরাজ্যে চিকিৎসক হিসেবে জীবনযাপন করার অভিজ্ঞতা এবং এ বিষয়ে কিছু সাধারণ প্রশ্নের উত্তর দিয়েছেন ডাঃ উর্মী জাহান।]
1. Is it possible to get a training post?
Answer: There is no straight answer to that, but usually you have to start in a non training job and gain all the competencies required for your training post application.
For example, I came to UK right after internship completion from SBMC and was interested in O&G training post. That required for any applicant to complete 2 years of internship (they call it foundation year, FY, in UK). So I did 15 months of non training job as an SHO, rotating between O&G, General Surgery, Trauma & Orthopaedics and Internal Medicine (Acute and Respiratory medicine). These rotations made me gain all the competencies needed to apply for O&G training post.
2. Is it easy/ hard to get a training post?
Answer: Depends upon which speciality and the location you want to apply. GP , Psychiatry, Paediatrics, Internal Medicine are relatively easy. Whereas, General Surgery, O&G, Ophthalmology, ENT are quite hard but not impossible. It’s not that General Surgery is amazing and Psychiatry is uncool. The more demanding the job, more vacancies there are, hence the bigger need for doctors. So, GP is a speciality which needs super large amount of doctors compared to plastic surgery. Therefore, there will be more GP posts and less competition.
Also, remote places are easy to get into a training post like Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and Humber, Wales. Training quality anywhere in UK is excellent and same between rural and popular areas, unlike Bangladesh where remote places are deprived. Deaneries like London, KSS, Oxford, Bath/Bristol are a bit harder because they’re popular.
3. How is life in UK?
Answer: Varies from person to person ,to be honest. You can enjoy a modern life and park your car on street without worrying it being stolen but then you won’t be able to enjoy টঙের চা, মেলার চটপটি ফুচকা with your family and friends, you will miss your loved ones. But , there is a good community and it will get better if more of us come to UK!
4. How can I get a job in UK?
Answer: you can actually get it by not even leaving Bangladesh! Those of you with a complete royal college degree like MRCOG/ MRCS/MRCP just need to pass OET and apply for jobs through “NHS jobs”. Interview will be via Skype. The hospital appointing you will sort your visa, so no worries!
Those without the royal college degree can sit for OET, PLAB1 from Bangladesh and come to UK for plab2 exam. You will need some money for that. But if you contact any of the reknown PLAB2 courses in UK, they will guide you and they will provide you with quite cheap accommodation in UK as they have so many overseas doctors from SE Asia, Africa, Middle East flocking to UK. Usually it’s Plab visa that any doctor can get for sitting PLAB2, but check it out on UK govt page as the British are very fond of changing immigration rules very often. I came to UK with PLAB visa for my PLAB1 & PLAB2 exams.
To give you a rough guide, I’m outlining my journey. It wasn’t as fast as I wanted it to be because I had 2 babies and took 2 complete years of maternity leave. ( Family comes first!)
**2012– MBBS
**2013- Internship + IELTS
**2014- PLAB completed
**2015-2016 : Marriage and started working as an SHO. Took time off work for a while after a pregnancy loss. Gained all my competencies as a second year intern (FY2), to make me suitable for O&G training post application. Also started with my first maternity leave.
**2017- Applied for O&G training post in London, KSS deanery: FAILED at the interview, 1st Baby born on June!
**2018- Applied again. Alhamdulillah bagged O&G in London deanery(NW); but due to personal reasons, declined the offer. Got reappointed in KSS deanery later.
Still in maternity leave with 2nd baby and baby born on October 2018.
**2019- Joined KSS deanery as a speciality trainee in O&G after completing two years back-to-back maternity leave.
Some places and some training posts are harder to get but I went to lots of courses to prepare me for the training post and remember, I also failed on my first attempt.
You all can do it if you work hard. There is nothing called a brilliant doctor but a hard working doctor. And failing isn’t bad, my failure in 1st attempt made me work harder, think of it as a privilege to make you better. Do your research, everything is out on internet. Talk to people in UK. Good luck!
