Bengaluru: Healthcare workers sign up to hone English skills

Bengaluru: As Bengaluru gains popularity as a destination for medical tourism, it has also spurred a demand among healthcare professionals to appear for Occupational English Test (OET), which helps them gain better English proficiency while dealing with foreign patients and their care givers.

OET is offered by Cambridge Assessment English, which is a part of the University of Cambridge and Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment for healthcare professionals.

Afsaneh Rashidi, OET Operations Support Manager from Australia told Deccan Chronicle, "OET is a standardized English test, which has been developed exclusively for this industry. OET is recognized as proof of English proficiency in UK, Ireland, Australia and many more countries."

OET is available monthly in over 110 locations in over 40 countries. It is recognised across 12 healthcare professions - dentistry, dietetics, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry, radiography, speech pathology and veterinary science.

"Right now in Bengaluru, we are working only with the private organisations, because the city receives patients from all over the world. So OET will help health professionals improve commutation skills in the English language and help them deal better with foreign patients, as most to them and their care givers know English, Afsaneh said.

Entry requirements
The candidates can apply for OET online and most of them will have a realistic chance of passing the exam with grades A and B on completing the preparation course.

In case the aspirants fail to qualify for the direct entry, they can join for a medicine preparatory course to develop the foundation.