Swedish journey of a Pakistani doctor > UK

One of my teachers said that the struggle of having competition among working people and complaints regarding reduction of available jobs due to immigration is basically a problem of the low educated population. When I gave it a thought, it appeared to be plausible. Studying and working in Sweden, I have never come across any situation where I've been discriminated for being a foreigner or a Muslim. Either I have been very lucky till now or it really is the case that my teacher was talking about. I sometimes think when people meet me and see a brown Muslim they begin thinking all kinds of thoughts, but then stop short in their thought process once they hear I'm a doctor and I will be/ already am a part of work force. It might be different for others. I've come across people saying that you won't get a job due to your last name, you have to work 3 times harder just because you are not from here. My way has been to block out all these voices and continue moving forward ...

There have been a few countable events of me meeting an old KUL student, all of them at the clinical examination practice. I have also met some immigrant doctors who have taken TULE. Today was the first time I met someone from first KUL batch ever (2009-2010). It was a female doctor working as ST at the clinic that I work for. It was a nice feeling and felt different from meeting people who have done TULE. In my opinion those who have gone the KUL way are more down to earth while those who have cleared TULE are very proud of that fact and it shows. Anyway, I might be wrong but who cares. She said it has been a great experience working in Sweden, and that the hardest part is getting into the system, the rest is just like other doctors. I couldn't agree less. It does feel like a load has lightened once you complete your degree. 

I cleared KUL ( kompletterande utbildning för utländska läkare ) in June this year and will soon be starting work as vikarierande underläkare (substitute junior doctor, for the lack of better words) at a vårdcentral (GP/ clinic). This is usually the first job after clearing medical degree in Sweden as we apply and wait for AT (the internship/ house job). I'm thrilled to begin working as this will be my first job ever. After KUL, I took some much needed down time and started applying for jobs first in August. For that, I updated my CV, personlig brev, listed out my references and made a list of places I wanted to apply to. For that I went to the region's website and looked up which vårdcentral were nearby or commutable (thank you Google maps!), plus the departments at the hospitals I could think of working at. I sent a simple email to each of the places, to their vårdenhetschef, asking if there was any need for underläkare . Most places replied that they did not have any pl...

I have been asked multiple times about the interview for getting into komplerande utbildning för utländska läkare, so I have decided to post whatever I remember at one place. I have studied this course at Sahlgrenska institute, Gothenburg university. The applications are accepted from March to mid-April. I applied in 2014 and recieved the call for interview within a week or two. The interview was at the end of May and the final selection was informed in mid-June. As far as I remember, the interview wasn't a big deal. I read the 'fall' or case the night before and googled a little about it. Good sources to read would be www.internetmedicin.se , läkemedelsboken (found online) , lisa labbes kompendier (google it) and even course books (for enthusiasts hehehe). I had my interview at 11a.m. an  there were two people present. The course administrator and the incharge of medicine for the course. First they asked me to tell something about myself, I started carefully,...

.-.-.-.-.-.-. I am sitting at the inside glass walled kirurgitorget at akuten (emergency) at NÄL, Trollhättan. The doctor I was supposed to shadow is nowhere to be found. In the room there is a Swedish looking doctor with no sense of humor who tells me he is actually Czech, another one who looks like a foreigner but turns out to be Swedish studying medicine in another EU country. The third one is a Swedish medical student who has yet to go one whole year to get her degree. She is working as underläkare (junior doctor) and is free to use the journalling system and has right to prescribe medicines etc. They are trying to be formal and nice to me and trying to explain something to me like a beginner. I suddenly feel like an outsider, and am strongly reminded of the fact that I come from outside EU, still struggling to be a part of the system. I feel like I want to disappear from there, as I am actually not needed, nor am I doing any good. So I take the earliest chance and g...

The first semester here at KUL Gothenburg was mainly Medicine and Psychiatry. Ten weeks for the first and four for the latter. Here they have test for each subject when it's finished. I got to know today that I cleared Psychiatry as well. I'm feeling very blessed. It was very hectic though. 4 and a half month of really hard time balancing home, baby and traveling daily to Gothenburg from Halmstad. Oh, and studies too.