'America can learn lots' - PIONEERING American doctor, Dr John Rubin.

[Joe Chi Minh]

A PIONEERING American doctor who left the US yesterday said: "I'm so proud to be part of the NHS." (Weren't we told a little earlier today that the best doctors would flock to the highest bidder?)

Dr John Rubin, 56, a consultant at London's Royal National Throat, Ear and Nose Hospital, believes his home country would benefit from adopting our health care system. He said: "An NHS model would be fantastic in America. Free health care for all would be wonderful.

The ethos of the NHS is patient care and it is a huge part of what makes Britain so special. America can learn a lot." An international row has erupted in the past week over President Obama's drive to reform the US health service.

Republican Sarah Palin claimed President Obama would require the elderly and disabled to appear before a bureaucratic "death panel".

And Tory MEP Daniel Hanna sparked fury when he went on US TV to criticise the NHS.

But Dr Rubin, who has worked in the UK for 15 years and is a pioneering surgeon in throat cancer, said: "I have never had issues related to quotas or age. I have never experienced anything other than tremendous care in the NHS."

This item appears in today's UK Sunday Mirror. A slightly different, abridged version appears on its website:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/08/16/america-can-learn-lots-115875-21599787/