The 5th meeting of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) in ENT took place at Lal Qila Restaurant, Rusholme, Manchester on 27th October 2007. The meeting continues to provide a forum where IMGs in ENT can discuss various issues relating to their training and future job prospects; besides gaining career advice from their senior colleagues amidst rapid changes occurring in the NHS. The meeting was attended by about 40 consultants, associate specialist, staff grades, SPRs and SHOs, as well as their families who had travelled from all over UK.

Mr MH Khan, after a brief welcome, introduced the first speaker, Mr Anwar Moin Khan, a registrar from Wales who talked about a Charity Hospital in Karachi called Indus Hospital which he had visited recently. He advised that any ENT surgeon visiting Pakistan in the future should visit this modern hospital which is being run on an entirely charitable basis. The patients are treated for free; and there is no compromise on quality of care. Any ENT surgeon willing to give time whilst visiting Karachi should contact Mr Anwar Moin Khan to organise his / her programme schedule.

The next person was the guest speaker, a well known face in UK medical circles, Mr Mohib Khan, Chairman of SAS Committee of the British Medical Association (BMA) for the last 10 years. He is also a Council member of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh and the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI). He is also a member of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) assessment committee.

He talked on various issues starting from the new SAS contract likely to come into force. He highlighted the advantages and disadvantages and emphasised that there are more disadvantages in the new contract. He personally thinks that this contract will be rejected and will go to a ballot and also linked the scenario of the consultant contract when it was accepted on its new improved offer.

He welcomed the establishment of PMETB and Article 14 but was critical of PMETB for the delays in processing applications under Article 14. Some applications were taking more than a year and no decisions were taken. According to statutory regulations PMETB should come with a definite answer within three months. He also talked about the recent MMC and MTAS fiasco and answered many questions from the floor, especially regarding the new contract.

The next speaker was Mr Shakeel Saeed, Consultant ENT and Skullbase Surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary and Salford Royal Hospitals. He talked about surgery for vertigo, using Meniere’s Disease as a model. He presented the evidence for and against saccus decompression and discussed the role of Intratympanic Gentamycin, Osseous Labyrinthectomy and Vestibular Neurectomy in carefully selected patients. He showed various slides of the surgical procedures and his results as published in the literature. There were lots of questions for Mr Saeed which he answered based on both the literature as it stands and his own experience in this field.

The meeting concluded with thanks to David Dunlop from de Soutter Medical for making the event very entertaining. He did a draw for all the participants and the winner was given a latest iPOD which went to Mr Ali Al Hakim.

All the participants and their families and the speakers then enjoyed a very delicious Indian meal and expressed their keen interest to know the venue and date of the next meeting. It was decided that the next meeting will be held in the 3rd week of May 2008 in Birmingham. Mr ljaz Ahmed, besides being congratulated on his consultant appointment, was given the responsibility to organise the meeting in Birmingham as he is based locally. Others appointed to consultant posts were also congratulated.