British medical student Harry Phillips criticises ‘lack of NHS opportunities’ after being forced to study medicine in Italy

After twice being rejected to study medicine in the UK, maximum tuition fee total in Italy will amount to around just £2,585 per year

(Rex)

An aspiring doctor has criticised the lack of opportunities available with the NHS after revealing how he has been forced to move from the UK to Italy to study medicine.

Speaking with the Shropshire Star, 19-year-old Harry Phillips from the town of Oswestry in Shropshire - who left high school with three As in A-level biology, chemistry, and history - told how he was rejected from studying medicine in the UK twice without even being interviewed.

Refusing to give up in his quest to become a doctor, he took the “drastic option” to travel to London this September where he sat the International Medical Admissions Test (IMAT), a 100-minute subject-specific admissions exam for applicants to medicine and surgery courses.

The Admissions Testing Service (ATS) website highlights how, in Italy, it works in conjunction with the Italian Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MIUR) to develop and deliver the English language version of the Italian admissions test already used for entry to courses taught in Italian.

IMAT is used by seven state universities and, having received his results in October, Mr Phillips described how he was placed around 110th out of 3,500 candidates, therefore securing a spot at the Università di Pavia (University of Pavia) in the region of Lombardy, south of Milan.

He described his situation is being a “harsh reality” affecting other young students like himself and blamed the limited number of placements available at UK universities for failing to meet demand after NHS England advised he “wait for the arrival of more private medical schools.” This, he said, would have been “an impractical option” for many young students because of high tuition fee costs.

Highlighting how the shortfall is “made up by foreign recruitment,” he did, however, add up the advantages of studying in the Italian town, with manageable costs taking the lead.

Compared with studying in the UK, he said the maximum tuition fee total amounts to around €3,500 each year (£2,585) which is “easily reduced to half that amount with the correct documentation.”

Despite working hard to look on the bright side - and grateful at the fact he won’t be saddled with a hefty life-sized debt amount at the hands of the Student Loans Company - the student could not help expressing his disappointment at not being accepted in the UK.

He told the Shropshire Star: “Happy as I am to be back on my career path, these circumstances are far from ideal, as I would give anything to be a student in the country I was born in.”

Mr Phillips will graduate with a master’s degree in medicine and surgery after completing the six-year course which is reportedly one year longer than he would have studied in the UK.