British Council-A doctor’s view

Transcript of the podcast

Interviewer: Today I’m talking to Rajan Mehta, a retired doctor. Good afternoon, Rajan

Rajan: Good afternoon

Interviewer: Now you’re originally from Mumbai and you came to work as a doctor in the UK. When was this

Rajan: In the early sixties, ۱۹۶۲ to be exact

Interviewer: And why did you come to the UK

Rajan: Well, it was quite common in those days. Experience of working in the British National Health Service was highly valued in India. I had just finished my medical degree, and I thought this would be a good way to get experience. I only intended to stay for five years, while I completed my postgraduate studies

Interviewer: So why did you stay longer

Rajan: Two reasons, really. The first is that I thoroughly enjoyed working for the NHS. The clinical training I received was fantastic, and I worked alongside some excellent consultants, and learnt a lot. And the second reason is that I met my wife, who was working as a paediatric nurse

Interviewer: And so you continued working in the NHS until you retired

Rajan: That’s correct. First as a paediatrician, and then later I retrained as a GP

Interviewer: You must have seen a lot of changes in the National Health Service. What was it like when you first came here

Rajan: It was excellent. I think that there was a lot more respect for the medical profession than there is now, and patients had a lot of faith in their doctors. There weren’t so many problems with long waiting lists, and new advances in areas such as organ transplants made it an exciting profession to be in

Interviewer: Yes, it must have been. Did you have any problems when you first started working in Britain

Rajan: Well, yes. My first placement was in a hospital in the north east of England. And I had real problems understanding what people were saying to me. Which came as quite a shock, as I thought I had rather good English. Eventually I confessed to a colleague that I sometimes couldn’t understand what my patients were saying. And she admitted that she had the same problem, as she came from a different part of the country

Interviewer: Yes, some regional accents can be quite difficult to understand. One last question – do you ever regret not returning to India

Rajan: No, not really. Of course I missed my family, but my brother also came to England to live, and I returned quite regularly to visit my parents while they were alive. And I married an English woman and had children here, so England soon became home

Interviewer: Rajan, thank you very much for coming in and talking to me

Rajan: It’s been a pleasure