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Dear friends,
Welcome to this Consultant section of the
BAPIO website! These are exciting times for consultants - full of
challenges, opportunities and also, responsibilities!! Challenging
because of the new consultant contract, the thorny issue of job
plans, the effects of European Working Time Directive on the
availability of junior staff, the impending revalidation, and the
ever-increasing professional and media scrutiny, of which the
overseas doctors have been rather unfair recipients. Opportunities
exist in the recently revamped clinical excellence awards scheme
that recognises the importance of direct contribution to patient
care – something that the overseas doctors have done unflinchingly
without any recognition, in the increasing awareness of
institutionalised racism within state structures, and in the
recognition of the paucity of ethnic minority representation in
the higher echelons of power within the NHS. I believe that the
Consultants of Indian or British-Indian origin have increasing
responsibilities too, not least in highlighting and studying the
special problems of the people from South Asian origin such as the
increasing prevalence of diabetes both among children and adults,
their poor representation in many clinical research studies, and
effective means of health care delivery to some of these
communities. Additionally, we as Consultants owe a responsibility
to our younger doctors arriving in the UK in massive numbers and
soon becoming disillusioned with lack of career opportunities. We
are well aware of the traditional weaknesses of medical education
system but have an opportunity to provide that glittering polish
to some of our gems to allow them to shine through. And above all,
we owe some debt to those whom we left behind in our home
countries. How we can contribute to improving the health care for
the less fortunate is a question that should exercise us all.
BAPIO should provide us a forum to express our thoughts,
generate ideas and harvest our strengths. I am sure the collective
wisdom of this community will go a long way in improving the lives
of not only overseas doctors in the UK but will make a substantial
contribution to our adopted country and the motherland. Look no
further than the effectiveness of the Indian medical community in
North America, and the political and economic power that this
group wields.
So I urge you to join in this discussion. Let us talk – there
is no specific subject. Feel free to talk on anything that bothers
you, something that you wish to share with others, or simply want
to offload. If you have read a good book recently, heard a rare
raga somewhere, seen a good film, ate a delicious dish somewhere,
visited some beautiful place - tell us about it! Let this be the
Voice of the doctors of Indian origin in the UK.
Sanjeev Deshpande
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