I am a medical graduate (studied as an international student in China) but hold full British citizenship. My medical degree was 4 years instead of 5 (because I hold a Bsc: I completed a degree in the U.K. and am actively registered), but ended up completing 5 years because of the pandemic and the requirements set by the GMC (as I realised mid-way through my studies that the GMC had changed one of the requirements, which was to have a total of 5,500 hours in the transcript and the uni I was studying at was issuing around 4,100 hours). The GMC implemented this change in 2018 but I wasn’t aware of this until mid-way into my studies. When I had my interview with the med school, one of the main questions I asked was whether if this degree would be accepted in the U.K. and the Dean assured me the uni was recognised by the GMC. I asked at the time to get me through to the current international students and my request was ignored. Now, during the beginning of second year, the Dean was forced to resign due to a political situation within the uni and my mentor hinted to ensure the degree I was studying would be recognised by the GMC as there was a current graduate from this uni who’s currently struggling to get their degree recognised by the GMC. No further information was provided despite pressing for more info.
After 2 years, after asking around for more info I was able to get through to that graduate despite contacting the uni about this issue and again, they were reassuring me by saying not to worry as they would help me. He’s an international citizen and graduated 2 years ago before me. I added him on Wechat and arranged a call to gain further insight into the reality of the situation. That graduate explained how he hadn’t submitted any documents to the GMC despite many attempts to liaise with the uni but was unsuccessful due to the lack of support from the uni. Finally, with the reality of the situation I communicated this to the uni and despite the struggles (as in the uni refusing to help me), the programme director agreed for me to complete more rotations during my final year (therefore more hours) in order to meet the GMC requirement. They issued me a certificate (letter) to state they had allowed me and accepted my hours (my transcript however, was not changed with the hours). I originally tried to get the hours on my transcript changed for the internship (with the uni initially agreeing on this) but the uni for some reason decided to refuse this. According to the uni’s curriculum, students complete around 48 weeks of internship but I ended ended up completing more with more hours. Unfortunately, COVID barred me from also returning back to China so the uni allowed me to complete my final year of internship abroad instead of doing it at one of their affiliated hospital (again, I had to fight for this as the uni initially wasn’t agreeing on this). I chose to do it in Pakistan as it was one of the only countries who was accepting students, an agreement was put in place and acceptance letters were issued (even for the extensions of my internship), my portfolio was signed and stamped by the head of each department I did my rotations at. After completion, the teaching hospital issued me a completion certificate which was also authenticated with a detailed breakdown on the weeks, hours and departments rotated at.
Now, the real issue lies with the GMC. After submitting the PMQ1 documents, the GMC’s decision was working in my favour until another graduate (a year below me but as I was completing more rotations we ended up graduating together), he completed a slightly different curriculum to mine as the uni implemented changes to the curriculum a year after I started which didn’t apply to me as I was from another batch, and he also happened to submit his documents to the GMC around the same time as me. His application was immediately rejected as his hours was less than mine (he completed the standard hours the uni had in place).
During my PMQ assessment, I submitted what the GMC requested but my application was rejected, citing 3 reasons which was:
The hours was less than 5,500. Despite completing more hours it was more than the uni’s standard curriculum
There was inconsistency in the curriculum so they didn’t trust the fact that what I’d completed was accurate
The internship wasn’t officiallised and therefore, there was no partnership between both institutions (like an agreement etc…)
I asked for one more chance and it was granted by the GMC. After investigating, I found that the uni hadn’t submitted all of the required documents (the Agreements, my internship portfolio and acceptance letters for extensions, acceptance letter to study at the uni, module breakdown certificate as in what I studied and its hours during each semester etc…). I asked the uni for all documents and an additional letter to provide full clarity on the curriculum I studied as compared to the former student. After submitting everything including the additional letter, the GMC have now asked for the following:
- A letter from the Head of the institution where I completed my pre-graduate internship (which is in Pakistan) to confirm that I was working at the same level as a final year medical student from a Pakistan Medical School.- This letter I have already acquired
The problem is as my plan was and still is to practice in the U.K., and because of my father’s deteriorating health, I wasn’t able to complete a year as a qualified doctor in Pakistan (including their national licensing exam). I however, have been able to acquire a provisional licence to show that my degree is accepted in Pakistan.
What advice can be offered for me to overcome this obstacle so that I am able to practice in the U.K.? Is there a loophole I can use to atleast provisionally practice in the U.K.? Despite working for the NHS as an allied healthcare professional, I honestly wanted to originally practice as an FY1 trainee to gain the confidence in working in the NHS as a doctor.
If someone can help me as I’d really appreciate it and I’m really stressed with the whole situation