An LMC has appealed to the home secretary to ensure a bereaved GP trainee can remain to live and work in the UK with her children.
North Staffordshire LMC sent a letter to Suella Braverman to support Dr Nermine Mounir Riad Abdelazim, a GP trainee in her final year of training, after her husband died suddenly at the beginning of January.
He was also a GP trainee on the North Staffordshire Vocational Training scheme and passed away due to sadden cardiac arrest without any previous medical history.
Dr Abdelazim, originally from Egypt, holds a tier-2 visa, also known as a ‘skilled worker visa’, which allows people to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job with an approved employer.
She is expected to obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in two years, but her two children, aged 13 and 18, were dependent on her husband’s visa.
The letter said that the situation was putting Dr Abdelazim and her children in a ‘very vulnerable position’ both emotionally and financially.
It said: ‘The death of her husband has been an incredible shock to Dr Abdelazim, the family and the local medical community.
‘Dr Abdelazim is greatly struggling emotionally, financially and is extremely stressed about their visa situation, as both boys were named on their father’s tier-2 visa.
‘Due to the unforeseen circumstances if they now come under Dr Abdelazim’s visa status as dependents, their status will be pushed back and they will not be able to get ILR next year, resulting in additional cost being applied.
‘There is a huge risk that if her visa arrangements are not sorted out, she may consider going back to Egypt, when she is only a few months away from completing her general practice training.
‘It would be extremely sad to lose a GP at a time when the NHS is going through crisis and desperately needs doctors.’
Dr Chandra Kanneganti, North Staffordshire LMC’s secretary, said: ‘It’s important to support GP trainee doctors, particularly with the GP work force crisis we have currently.
‘We hope that the home secretary will consider this case empathetically and arrange ILR for Dr Abdelazim and her children.
‘It’s sad to see so many bureaucratic processes for doctors visa issues for international medical graduates when you have significant work force crisis of GPs.’
North Staffordshire LMC asked the home secretary to support her case and put a recommendation forward to the Home Office for them to consider granting ILR as an ‘exceptional case on compassionate grounds.’
READERS' COMMENTS [1]
Please note, only GPs are permitted to add comments to articles
What an incredibly sad situation. Well done Chandra for advocating for her.
I hope common sense and humanity prevails here