By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Foreign doctors play a vital role in running Britain's publicly funded health service and have to come through stringent tests before they are allowed to work here, health authorities said on Tuesday.

The role of foreign health workers has come under scrutiny after police said they were investigating Middle Eastern and Indian medics over a suspected Islamist bomb plot.

Some critics asked if militant groups were exploiting the medical profession to get members into Britain.

Nearly 40 percent of doctors registered in Britain are foreign-trained.

NHS Employers, responsible for workplace and employment issues, said it was happy with vetting procedures which included proof of identity and criminal records checks in Britain.

"The existing checks on NHS staff are designed to be as rigorous and thorough as possible to ensure patients are given the utmost protection," a spokesman said.

The eight people being questioned by police over failed car bombs in London and a botched attack on a Scottish airport are either doctors or linked to the medical profession. Two are Indians and the other six from the Middle East, security sources said.

The General Medical Council, which tests applicant doctors for linguistic and professional competence as well as checking on their medical qualifications, said it would co-operate with whatever the authorities asked of it.

A spokesman for the Department of Health praised the crucial contribution that foreign trained doctors had made to the functioning of the country's health system.

"Without them the health service would have been in a very bad way," the spokesman said.

Foreign-trained doctors can apply for visas under Britain's Highly Skilled Migrant Programme that allocates points on a combination of age, educational qualifications and proven earning ability.

They also need to undergo the GMC's vetting procedure.

They must sit a written exam, which can be taken in their home country, and a practical which must be taken at GMC headquarters in central London.

This involves 15 applicants at a time lining up in a corridor facing 15 closed doors.

A buzzer sounds and each applicant has one minute to read a set of medical notes before entering the room where they have five minutes to either carry out a medical procedure on a dummy or establish relevant facts from a 'patient' played by an actor.

When the buzzer sounds again, they exit the room and move to the next door where they repeat the process with a different problem until all 15 have been tackled.

"It is a very full-on test. You should see their faces as they wait outside the doors," a GMC spokeswoman said.

(Additional reporting by Mark Trevelyan)

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