In a marginal victory, the organisation representing Indian doctors in the UK has obtained an emergency injunction against Britain's Health Department directive stopping recruitment of non-European Union doctors who do not have visas to work beyond August 1.

The court ordered that "until the matter can be heard inter partes on the morning of March 8, 2007, before a judge of the administrative court, those Highly Skilled Migrants Programme visa holders whose visa falls for renewal before August 1, 2007, should not be excluded from interview and appointment process."

Judge Justice Wilkie in the high court of justice ordered the injunction on Sunday evening, Ramesh Mehta, president of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, told PTI in London on Monday.

"This is a small victory. This injunction is very focused," he said adding, "this will come up for judicial review on March 8."

On midnight of February 23, the department issued a new guideline on the Medical Training Application Service Web site to the effect that "only those doctors who have a visa to work beyond August 1, 2007, will be considered for recruitment in MMC (Modernising Medical Careers)."

Mehta said while the department has promised to keep its guidance on HSMP doctors in abeyance for the first round of MMC recruitment, it has also applied a new condition that has been causing a great deal of worry and anxiety among International Medical Graduates.

BAPIO lawyers asked the department to remove this requirement.

"We first wrote to the department's solicitors on February 26, seeking urgent action. This was followed up with several faxes and telephone calls. Unfortunately, there was no satisfactory reply," BAPIO solicitor Anthony Robinson said.

"Meanwhile, the results of the shortlisted candidates for 22,000 jobs in the National Health Service were published and we were relieved to learn from our members that those whose visas are due for renewal before August 1 were shortlisted. But this relief was short-lived and it became apparent on Thursday that doctors who do not have visa extending beyond August 1 may be turned away from the interview," he said.

"On March 2, we again pressed the department for a reply to our request of February 26. We got an e-mail from the department's lawyers promising that we would have a reply before the end of the day; unfortunately that promise was not kept. Given that the rule will be implemented for the current interview process, we had no choice but to ask for an injunction," said Robinson.

Mehta said BAPIO has stood up against unfairness and injustice and "have no plans to back down now."

Raman Lakshman, BAPIO vice chair (Policy) said, "Given that our members will begin to suffer from being excluded from the interviews and the department is so far unprepared to enter into any dialogue, we had no alternative."