Abstract:
The international migration of skilled medical professionals has been documented as a ‘manpower’ issue for health service planning since the 1960s. This paper charts the way that the international travel of medical professionals, primarily physicians and nurses, has been understood and how its construction as a problematic or a positive feature of global migration has varied. Sketching out this literature is a prelude to further analysis that will interrogate the terms of the documentation, its translation into and consequences for public discourse concerning global equality and ethics.