Recruiting doctors from poor countries: the great brain robbery?

will propose a prohibition on industry sponsored reviews when he speaks at the Barcelona meeting. One important group, until now silent in this debate, are the public agencies who currently provide a large part of the collaboration's core funding. In England, the Department of Health's funding is signed off by the director of research and development, John Pattison. " It seems perfectly legitimate for Cochrane to consider industry funding, and it's healthy to have this open debate, " he said before adding that the proposition did raise some worrying issues. " The worry would be that he who pays the piper calls the tune, and we ended up with a situation where it was industry who were determining the nature of the work done, or worst of all, the possibility that it might have some influence on outcomes. " Pattison reserved judgment about whether industry funding would damage public support for the collaboration. " If the perception is that by taking industry money this would deter public funders from funding because they thought there was a loss of independence—that's a legitimate point of view, but I want to see the strength of that argument. " Although declining to advocate a particular path, Pattison did say that mechanisms to minimise influence would be highly desirable if Cochrane decides to accept industry funding. " It's very much better for any monies to come through a general-ist association rather than a specific company—because then you would worry about a hidden agenda. To put it into some activity independent of specific reviews would also be another legitimate way to ensure separation. " Alongside the debate about industry funding, sits the even more difficult question of the individual financial ties of researchers who produce Cochrane reviews. Where does disclosure end as a management strategy and disqualification begin? In both debates, no matter how deep the complexity or the conflict, the delegates in Barcelona can take some small comfort from knowing they are by no means alone. Indeed, they will generate considerable global interest if they can design a foolproof mechanism for accepting sponsorship and ensuring independence. Perhaps they might even patent it. Contributors and sources: RM has been reporting on medicine and health care for seven years and is a visiting editor with the BMJ. This article is based on interviews with those quoted plus others who spoke on condition of anonymity. 1 Mallett S, …