A doctor qualified in Jordan and working here, Mohammad Asha, has been named as one of those arrested in connection with the series of failed car bomb attacks in recent days. What do we know about him?

Not much. He graduated in 2004, so would still be on the lowest rungs of medical training, as a junior hospital doctor. His specialist interest is reported to be neurology.

How do foreign doctors arrive and qualify for work in the UK?

Every year thousands of foreign doctors apply to register as doctors in the UK. The normal route, for a doctor who has qualified outside Europe from a recognised medical school, is to take tests of competence in English - the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test. An alternative route is to apply for postgraduate training at a recognised institution. Graduates who pass the PLAB test or win a postgraduate training place qualify for "limited registration" by the General Medical Council.

What is limited registration?

It is a form of probationary rgistration which does not enable the recipient to practice, except in a specified job where he or she is supervised by a fully-registered doctor. This is the form of registratiion held by Mohammad Asha, who graduated in Jordan in 2004 and was first given limited registration by the GMC in October 2005. It is not known whether he applied through PLAB or thrugh a postgraduate training programme.

How many doctors from aboard apply to work here?

Many thousands take the PLAB test every year, with numbers rising fast. In 2003 nearly 8,000 passed PLAB 1 and 5,000 PLAB 2. By 2004 the number passing PLAB 2 had risen to 7,500. But many graduates who pass find it very difficult to get jobs - more than a third who passed PLAB 2 in 2003 were still unemployed six months later. Those who do get jobs often find themselves in short-term posts, or six-month posts with no guarantee of further employment.

Who checks if they are who they say they are?

It is up to employing trusts to make these checks, advised by NHS Employers. Checks would include confirmation of identity, references and qualifications, plus a criminal records check. This is obviously harder to do in the case of international graduates, but the Criminal Records Bureau can provide country-by-country advice on whether and how it can be done.

Engaging in bombings is hardly compatible with a doctor's normal duty of care, is it?

It is entirely alien to all that doctors have stood for since Hippocrates first drafted the oath than enjoins doctors to "do no harm". While not all graduates these days swear the Hippocratic Oath on graduation, its principles still bind their conduct.

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