A shortage of junior doctors is forcing the NHS to recruit hundreds of doctors from India this year.
Tighter immigration rules introduced three years ago meant many overseas medics left the UK instead of taking up training posts.
This, combined with European regulations restricting doctor working hours and childcare breaks, has left dozens of hospitals struggling to fill vacancies.
Hospitals across the UK are struggling to fill junior doctor posts
The medics are needed across a range of specialities from obstetrics and gynaecology to paediatrics and accident and emergency.
Professor Derek Gallen, who is postgraduate dean of medical training for Wales, said: 'We pulled the plug on overseas recruitment far too quickly.
'We didn't realise what the implications of that action would be two, three or four years down the line,' he told the BBC.
'Particularly with the European Working Time Directive and the increased feminisation of the workforce. These are things that have made staffing rotas very difficult.'
Wales is one of four medical training schools across the UK which has been recruiting in India over this year.
The others involved cover the Severn area, the West Midlands and Northern Ireland.
Dr Lopamudra Nath Chaudhary, who has just been offered a post, said: 'I've already worked in the UK and I've seen how good the training programmes are for the junior doctors. My first choice was always to go the UK.'
The need for junior doctors is most acute outside the big cities.
The European Working Time Directive, which was fully introduced into the NHS last August, limits doctors to working no more than 48 hours per week and has left gaps on rotas.
Some district general hospitals have had trouble attracting enough staff to cope with the changes leading, in some cases, to services being cut.
The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) had agreed to help the Deparment of Health with recruitment on the understanding that Indian medics are allowed to stay for between three and four years.
But this has been blocked by the Home Office who want the current two-year limit to stay in place.
Dr Ramesh Mehta, the president of BAPIO, told the BBC, 'It's a shame because we always knew they would need Indian doctors again. But we won't help unless the conditions are right and there isn't short term exploitation.'
In a statement a Department of Health spokeswoman said: 'The Department and UKBA (UK Border Agency) worked together to ensure the immigration system struck a balance between providing valuable training opportunities for foreign doctors without preventing UK-trained doctors from progressing in their careers.'
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1283439/Junior-doctor-shortage...
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