By Jake Lynch BBC News reporter

Hundreds of refugees are applying to be students on Britain's first course in a university medical school for doctors from overseas wanting to practise in the UK.

There could be as many as 2,000 qualified doctors in Britain who arrived here as refugees, mostly from countries such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia.

Most never take up their profession again, excluded by the difficulties of supporting themselves and their families while trying to organise a study programme on their own.

At the same time, the NHS is short of doctors, with the government promising to recruit an extra 15,000.

There is no structured way to go through and there is no-one to guide you through the system.

Dr Otmane el Mezoued

The British Medical Association estimates that as many as 5,000 patients die every year because there are not enough doctors to treat them.

The course for 30 students with medical qualifications from outside the European Union will start at Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, London in September.

It is aimed at helping them prepare for the tough professional and English exams they must pass if they're to work as doctors in their adopted country.

The course is funded with a grant of �300,000 from the Mercer's Company of the City of London.

It grew out of informal clubs and mentoring at the college over several years - a programme that has already launched some refugee doctors into medical practice here.

'Baffling'

One of them, Zorica Vujovic, now works as a junior doctor at Barnsley General Hospital, in South Yorkshire.

She came to Britain from Bosnia, in 1996, unable to speak a word of English.

It was three years before she could resume her career, but she is now about to sit further exams which, she hopes, will win her a post as a registrar - the next step up the ladder.

Zorica Vujovic was told to 'forget medicine' when she arrived in the UK

When she arrived in London, friends told her to forget about medicine as she would never qualify - it was too hard.

At the same time, she was aware of the shortage of doctors. Dr Vujovic was baffled.

By chance she heard about the help available at Queen Mary's, which, proved crucial.

She said that without it, "probably I would still be looking and searching for the ways for my diploma to be recognised, and I would not be working".

"Those first three years were very frustrating."

Benefit restrictions

In a cramped West London apartment, Dr Otmane el Mezoued, a qualified doctor from Algeria, crouches over medical text books, preparing to sit part one of the General Medical Council's exam for refugee doctors.

He has applied for the Queen Mary's course but, he says, there's another obstacle.

To have a chance of passing Part Two, a refugee doctor must go on a clinical attachment at an NHS hospital - turning up every day, for several months, without pay.

Dr Otmane el Mezoued says there is 'no structure'

While they study, many live on state benefits like the Jobseeker's Allowance.

At any time, they can be told to prove they are available for a job - any job - or risk losing the benefit.

To train a doctor from scratch costs as much as �200,000.

The Department of Health, recognising the potential value of the asset on its doorstep, decided this year to make half a million pounds available to support conversion schemes across the country.

Ministers are now being lobbied to ease the benefit rules for claimants who possess such a rare and valuable skill - as part of what the BMA calls 'joined-up government'.

Dr el Mezoued said: "There is no structured way to go through and there is no-one to guide you through the system. As a result we waste a lot of time. There is a crisis of doctors in this country, and yet on the ground everything is very difficult to access."