ICMIF member the Medical Defence Union (MDU), the UK’s leading medical defence organisation, has announced it will be offering to waive the first year of membership subscriptions for doctors fleeing Ukraine or other conflict zones and want to resume practice in NHS roles.

This follows news that the UK’s General Medical Council (GMC) is planning to fast track applications from doctors fleeing the war. Those doctors applying for MDU membership will first need to have GMC registration. Membership will be free for the first year for members working in NHS indemnified roles.

Dr Matthew Lee, MDU chief executive, said: “Doctors and other healthcare professionals who are fleeing from conflict zones, including the war in Ukraine, have been through a truly horrific time. We want to support these members arriving in the UK with free MDU membership for their first year in NHS practice. This is in recognition of the solidarity healthcare professionals feel with their colleagues in Ukraine and other affected countries.

“Of course, we hope that the healthcare professionals affected will be able to return to their own countries as soon as it is safe to do so, but we want to support them to continue to practise in the meantime.”

Free membership is applicable for the first year following GMC registration and excludes existing MDU members. Membership is already free for medical students so those fleeing war zones who continue studying medicine in the UK, are also encouraged to join.