[Fred Nerks]

Look at what socialized medicine has done in England. When even Kate Middleton gets a foreign nurse imagine what the rest of us are going to get.

See what I'm getting at? Kate was in a private hospital, the nurse who took the telephone call passed the call through to the ward Kate was in, and to suggest that any hospital, public or private, shouldn't employ immigrants from foreign countries would probably mean the breakdown of the entire system. I don't think you thought this through before you wrote what you did. There are a number of muslim doctors and ward staff at our local hospital in the State where I live in Australia, are you suggesting they should not be employed in that capacity? Once they are citizens and qualified, how could we prevent them from working in their fields?

[ladyjane]

Good grief, Fred. Relax.

I am glad you are happy with your doctors, Muslim and all. Just be glad your wife or daughter is not a rape victim and has to be treated by a Muslim physician. It’s been a major problem in our emergency rooms that employed Muslim physicians.

One of the reasons you have found better care in Australia is because many of the best physicians from England have moved to Australia. At the same time England has been flooded with physicians from the Middle East and Africa.

Instead of relying on your personal experience you should read the literature. Even ten years ago 58% of the new doctors came from outside the country and 30% of the doctors trained in England came from ethnic minorities.

I will repeat: If the future queen of England is cared for by foreign health care providers what hope is there for the average patient. It is a problem - whether you choose to believe it or not - when your doctor comes from a different cultural background, speaks a different language, and has different values. I’ll take a physician trained in the US any day over someone from Cuba, Bulgaria or Egypt.