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Despite clearing registration, international medical graduates from India are struggling to find jobs

Scores of international medical graduates are struggling to find suitabl e jobs in Australia, as the length y and complicated registration p r ocess continues to dampen their spirits. Ma n y doc tors a re fo rced to take up odd jobs to survive, while others simply give up and return to India.

Pri ya migrated to Syd11ey after her marriage in July 201 1, o n completing her NIBBS from Gujara t in India in 2010.

Sh e spent cwo years preparing and cleared a lJ of the three. registration examinations, namely tbe Australian Medical Council (AMC) 1foltiple Cho.i ce Questions (i\llCQ) part 1, the AMC Clinical part II, and finally IELTS or OET (E nglish rest), in ord er to qualify to practice and wo r k in Australi a.

Bur despite s uccessfully comp letii1g all of these e--.am s, Priya has been app lying for a job in d1e m edical profession in every stare in Austra li a , with no posi tive result s

The iro n y is th at she is n ow tutori ng other aspirin g internatio n al medical stude n ts for d1e very same exa m.

" T have applied ever ywh ere in Australia Ltnder the Resident Medical O fficer c ampaign in June - July 201 3, b uc only faced disappointment", rues Pr iya. "I'm i n a Catch-22 situatio n bec aus e the AJ\,[C will o nly finalise my registration o nc e I ge t a job offer letter from a hospitaJ. And d1e hospitals wo n 't offer me a job due to m y lack of experience. I've started to lose confidence ove r my decisio n to come here", she adds.

Pri ya personally would not encourage overseas trained doctors to come to Australia "I bave spent over $10,000 to co m pl ete m y registration and I'm still struggli ng to fi nd a job," says Priya wid1 a distinct sense of d ejectio n " I k now of frie n ds w h o came here after d1eir ~BS and have taken up jobs as securi ty guards and taxi drivers, and are stiJI attempting co complete their registration. In m y opinion, Australia i s no r d1e c ountry for ove r seas trained doctors"

Som e lndian doctors just g ive up and leave, li ke Dr Sn eh al who also joined the Australi ai1 Indian Medical Graduate Association 12

(AIM GA) , to voice her concerns. She returned to Mumbai after facing job rejections fo r several years, despite being a registered doctor h ere Odi ers Li ke Pakistantrained Nasir Mehmood B aig who arrived in 2005 and h as a wi fe and fo ur children to support, drives a taxi while navigating his way towards reg istration.

Feelin g their pain and understanding their disillusionment, the AIMGA h as been active ly lobbying for t he welfare of fodian a nd ove r seas trained doc tors for over three decades Th e Associatio n has writ ten seve ral lerters to the Medical Board of Australia asking fo r more transparency on webs ites that explain the registrati on sys tem. Imernarional st11de nts e n d up paying a hefty financial reg istration fee and are caught unaware of the lo ng draw n our process, wid1 n o guarantee that they can wo r k as a doctor in Australia. O n ave rage it costs ab our $ 15,000 to complete d1e registration, w ith n o gu arantee o f success

"] think intern ational m edical g radu ates (DvIG) are suffer in g a lot, bo th financ ially a nd mentall y, due to a lack of proper information abom the rules of medical registration, the waiting pe riod between exarniiia tio n s, and the English examinations

There is no explanation or reaso n, g ive n apart fro m a 'pass' or 'fail' in the r esult", states Dr P Sawrikar, forme r Preside n t of AIMGA "Crucial i nformation like clinica.1 experie nce of a minimum of three years before students can app ly fo r registration, is not mentioned anywhere in di e websi te", be adds.

D ep r ession is a noth e r big cause of concern, an endemic problem for lt\1Gs, when th ey fail to clear the examin ation s Th e g ap betwee n theory and clinical examination is another big hindrance in t he curre n t registration process, w hic h exac erb ates the doctor's time o ut of clinical wor k. There are no ex planations why some IMGs have co wai t much longer than l 8 months to si t fo r t he clinical exam after cleati n g d1e d1eor y part lt gets worse fo r those who fail in their first atte m pt; in fact, tl1e waiting period for the m cau stretch from 22 mo ntl1s co three years!

Dr Aditi P unjawat, an overse as m edical graduate fro m a dental college in Pun e, India came to Sydney three years ago " \Vhen ] first came here, I was warned by p eo p le about the lengthy process of demal licensing," she says " Th e exams are extremely difficul t and preparatio n ta kes a huge to ll on your m ental state It was very disheartening for me to fail on the firs t attempt, and I had to build up the courage to cry again. When I didn't c lear the exam fo r the seco nd time, I went in to depression and m y confidence levels were at an allti m e Iow"

" There should be more clarity and transparency of the AMC exami n atio n. It should state clearly where th e mistake was mad e, whi ch questions we re incor rectly answered an d w ha t m ista kes were made", D r Punjawat avers

De spite being a qualified dentist, she continues to work as a dental assistant in a small fa mil y ntn dental clinic.

There is n o denying that Australian trained doctors are preferred over overseas trained doctors for jobs, and many IMGs feel a sense of helplessness iu a si tuation where d1ey have passed the .Ai\i[C exam s a nd got d1e ir certificate, but are un able co secu re a job because o f a lack of Australia n experien ce o r gen eral registration. The y need guidance and support which d1e Overseas Medical Gradua tes Assoc iation (OMGA) in Me lbourne h opes to provide.

Howeve r, the OMGA feels die L.\1Gs still don't come forward wi th t heir pro blems, nor do they co n sider approach ing die Association, as they should.

"The OMGA i s mote than w illi ng to help, guide and network ,vith t hese students who want to get r egi stered in A u stralia" , says Dr Geetha Venkatram, Presidenr OMGJ\ Victoria.

This Assoc ia tion of registered doctors lo b by o n behalf of l.J.vJGs in Victoria, reviewing their concerns an d prob lems They wa n e more participation from international m edical doctors in d1eir association " \Y/e really wane to help swdents caki n g d1ese exa ms with training and workshops and eve n references, if needed", emphasised D r Vealq1tram. "B ur p eo ple are too scared to speak up and voice die ir problems. Thar men tality n eeds to ch an ge and ,ve need a united p latfor m wi th good numbers; only then can we approach the Australian Medical Counc il to raise our issues"

Art dealer Subhash Kapoor is taken to court for illegally selling the NGA a 900-year-old bronze Indian statue, reports LENA PEACOCK

The NationaJ Ga llery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra has taken ew Yock art dealer Subhash Kapoor to court over the purchase of an 11 '1 century bronze sta tue of Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Natarrga). The GA is seeking the return of the $5 million it paid for the statue, plus legal fees and other costs. This artwork was purchased from Kapoor in 2008 for $5 million by the NGA, but in 2006 it was stol en from a Sivan Temp le in the J\riyalur District of Tamil Nadu in southern India.

False provenance papers were created by dealership Arr of the Past, prior co selling it to tbe l GA. The false supporting documents included a letter of provenance stating that the statue had been purchased b y a di plomat in India prio r to l 971.

Kapoor is also facing charges in

India over art smuggling allegations

The NGA had previ ously bought 21 items through Kapoor's act dealership, which the Australian government has now asked the gall ery to investigate. These works were bought from Kapoor for A$1 1 million, ancl the deals were finalised berween 2002 and 2011.

"We are going to deal wid, the Indian high comn:i.ission with a view to pursuing d1e matter to a satisfactory outcome", said Australian Arts Ministe,r and Attorney- General George Brandis. Repatriation is an issue that affects many artworks exported from India and it is hoped that dus case draws further attention to scolen works. "The trade in artefacts and antiquities is a minefield for public galleries, being littered with fakes and phoney provenances such as the one supplied wid, the Shiva Nataraj', writes Anstralian arc historian Jobn McDonald o n his website. "The NGA's rapid acquisition of so many Indian pieces was a strange fad pursued with reckless abandon". McDonald questions whed1er chis srame will " be the catalyst chat destroys d1e N GA's insularity and creates a new relationship with the public". After all, the five metrehigh figure of Shiva su.rroLrnded by a ring of fire represents boch the destruction of the world

Jason Felch, a repo.rter and the author of Chasing Aphrodite: the Huntfa,·Looted A ntiqNities in the fl7orld} lvfoset1111, says the gallery shou ld have known better and did not do enough to find om if the stame's provenance records were genuine. " There was a credible amount o f evidence that a lot of the ancient act available for sale was coming wi th forged documents ancl bogus ownership histories to cover up die fact d1at they'd been recently sto len", he says. "In 2006-2007, when this object was being considered by the National Gallery, diere was an international controversy going on about museums acquiring ancient art". Felch al so questions whether, after d1e OS authorities have seized $100 million of Kapoor's art coU.ection, there will '"be mone)' left over for die National Gallery to recoup?"

"Based o n information obtained the Shiva has lost its li nancial value, and i ts clouded title and notoriety means that the work cannot be promoted as a key work of art in the gallery's Indian collection", court docun1enrs read And any attempts to sell the work are unlikely to occur because of the uncertainry surrounding its past, the documem also states NGA have confirmed that they have contacted the Indian government to "discuss avenues for restimtion" fo r the stame; however, a spokesperson for the gallery said they were unable to comment o n die court case, as it is scill before die court. The spo kesperson al so declined to comment on how the federally funded gallery is paying for the court action.