The government has rejected suggestions that it is failing to entice senior doctors from overseas to take up jobs in the NHS.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn said hundreds of top doctors were lined up to take up posts in trusts across England.

He dismissed newspaper reports suggesting that doctors in other countries are refusing to come to the UK because of concerns over conditions in the health service.

Everyone knows the NHS needs new doctors. That's what doctors themselves say

Health Secretary Alan Milburn

The reports had also suggested that senior NHS surgeons were putting pressure on hospital managers not to appoint doctors from abroad.

But Mr Milburn said the scheme is "going extremely well".

He said 400 doctors had applied to the Department of Health to work in the NHS and 200 of these had now been short listed and were expected to take up jobs shortly.

Protectionism

He said the government would tackle any attempts by doctors to prevent hospital managers from appointing overseas staff.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "If there is any question of protectionism in the NHS standing in the way of the NHS getting the extra doctors it needs that will be tackled.

"What we are not going to have is anybody having a veto on the idea that we are going to bring new doctors into the NHS.

Sir Magdi is trying to recruit specialists from abroad

"Everyone knows the NHS needs new doctors. That's what doctors themselves say. We agree with that."

Ministers appointed retired heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub as its NHS ambassador in February.

The internationally-renowned surgeon was asked to recruit 450 doctors in key specialities from abroad over the next three years as part of the Department of Health's International Fellowship Scheme.

The extra doctors will take up jobs in specialities with high vacancy rates as part of efforts to reduce NHS waiting times.

Success

Sir Magdi told the BBC the scheme was successful. He said recruiting doctors from overseas would benefit the NHS.

"I think it should make a difference. It is only one of the schemes which are designed to increase the output and deal with backlog of waiting lists and to develop the services more. It will create opportunities to do all these things."

But Shadow Health Secretary Dr Liam Fox said Mr Milburn's overseas recruitment policy was "in tatters".

He said: "He has not been able to get doctors from overseas because they are not attracted to the pay and conditions here."