Virtual speaker

At it’s 55^th consecutive weekly Zoom meeting on Monday 19^th April the Club welcomed back former member Dr Peter Dickson MBE to talk about the role of doctors from the Indian sub-continent in the National Health Service and particularly in Wales.

Peter was for many years a GP in Yorkshire first at Hatfield in the South Yorkshire coal field and then in Ilkley. As he put it , it was like moving from a South Wales mining village to Cowbridge. He later moved to Bradford as Medical Director of the Bradford and Airedale Doctors Trust and was instrumental in setting up the Born in Bradford project which tracked the health and lifestyle of 10,000 babies from birth to adulthood.

He and his family then moved to Llantwit Major on his taking up a position as a senior adviser to the National Clinical Assessment Service. He was awarded an MBE for his services to primary health care.

During the course of his career he became interested in the doctors who came to work in the NHS.and particularly in general practice in the South Wales valleys and North Wales. That interest has led to his current research for a PhD at Swansea University.

Peter explained the history of the creation of the NHS entry with the well known picture of Aneurin Bevan in a hospital on its first day. The bed is occupied by the healthy daughter of the local Alderman with whom he was staying because a suitable patient was not available.

Contrary to the expectation that cost of the NHS would go down because free health care would improve the general health of the population, the effect was the opposite because it disclosed the prevalence of many undiagnosed and untreated conditions. Prescription charges were to be brought in to meet the increasing costs.

Problems staffing the NHS and particularly GP practices in less affluent areas followed.The gaps were filled by doctors from the Indian subcontinent. They often came at first with a view to improving their qualifications but many decided to stay.

Peter illustrated this by the moving story of Dr B. When young his family was caught up in the inter-communal violence on the partition of India on independence 1947. They lost their home and their possessions and his mother was robbed of her gold jewellery. Despite this he was able to qualify as a doctor and came to the UK. Undeterred by prejudice and the language as well as the weather and the food, he stayed and rose to be a consultant in North Wales. One of the first things he did when could afford it was to replace his mother’s gold jewellery.

An informative and thought provoking evening. We await his book which it is hoped will follow completion of his doctoral thesis.

Some doctors from the sub-continent found a home in Rotary and made important contributions to the movement in South Wales

.Dr Subrahmanyam Ganesh (Ganesh) was a GP in Dowlais and joined the Rotary Club of Merthyr Tydfil He became President of the Club and District Governor. He is perhaps best known for his role in the Rotary Jaipur Limb Project 

Dr Mohammad Obaidullah (Obaid) was a GP in Maesteg (among other things) who joined the Rotary Club of Bridgend and became Club President.