Doctor leader complains about lack of fund in UK National Health Service

The leader of Britain's 156,000 doctors Monday offered a tonic for under-fire immigrants, saying without them the country's National Health Service (NHS) would be "on its knees."

Dr. Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association, in his keynote opening address to the organization's annual conference in Liverpool, delivered a dose of tough medicine to politicians during election campaigns.

On immigration, one of the main election issues, Dr. Porter said: "We were told immigrants are filling up our GP surgeries and our hospitals. They are, they're called doctors, nurses, porters, cleaners, and clinical scientists. Without them the NHS would be on its knees."

On changes and funding for the NHS, Dr. Porter said: "We need the Government to face up to the scale of the problem."

Dr. Porter said within five years, the NHS in England will be 30 billion pounds (47.5 billion U.S. dollars) a year short of what it needs, but has only been promised a real term increase of 8 billion pounds by the end of the five-year parliament.

"We spend a lower share of our national income on health than France and Germany, but also Spain and Portugal. And this share is falling," said Dr. Porter.

The keynote speech by Dr. Porter was delivered to delegates at the annual conference of the BMA, a body often described as the doctor's "trade union." Endit