Support rallied yesterday behind a GP trainee facing deportation over a visa mix-up. Several medical organisations declared their support for Dr Luke Ong – while a petition in his support was approaching 50,000 signatures early today.

Dr Ong is close to completing his GP training but is facing a legal battle over a deportation order after he missed the deadline for a visa renewal by less than three weeks last year. He was born in Singapore and was financed by his family to take a medical degree in the UK.

British Medical Association chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said the situation “beggars belief.” He said: “The government knows there is a serious shortage of GPs in England, with too few medical students opting for the specialism, while experienced doctors reduce their hours or retire early – something which is having a negative effect on patient care. The Home Office must therefore move away from this hostile culture and any approach to immigration rules for doctors needs to be flexible and – ultimately – practical.

“For them to seemingly take such a strict stand in this case is utterly incomprehensible.”

The Royal College of GPs said it would be pressing Home Secretary Amber Rudd to intervene. Chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said: “We need every single appropriately-trained doctor we can get working in UK general practice, so it makes absolutely no sense that a GP trainee who has studied medicine here – at great national investment – and chosen to become a family doctor here, is being pushed out instead of being welcomed with open arms.

“We understand the need for well-defined rules on immigration, but these need to be intelligently applied. This really is a tragic example of bureaucracy getting in the way of common sense.”