It is impossible to recall all the racist incidents that have occurred during my training. The ones I mention have struck a chord simply because of their blatancy.
Generally, no one taught me, but criticism was rife when I failed. This is the one characteristic of racism that I have found most distressing. My white friends received gentle instruction, but I was largely excluded unless I asked. Yet, at every stage in my career I have had to outperform white doctors in order to get a job.
No one taught me, but criticism was rife when I failed |
In my senior house officer post in East Anglia there was no in- house teaching of any sort. When I told my boss that I was leaving he was aghast. He took me aside and, in the presence of his clinical assistant, said, “Do you realise you are resigning from a white job?” I apologised profusely but left.
I was thrilled when my first general surgical rotational job arrived. I had a boss who liked me but a ward sister who did not. No matter how hard I tried, she reported me. And generally took pleasure in disliking me. How can you tell that dislike is racist? Well, it's instant and intractable.
The most blatantly racist job I ever did was as a rotating registrar in surgery in the east Midlands. The consultant ignored me from the outset and spoke only to my senior house officer, a white doctor. He taught me nothing. If I couldn't negotiate the rectosigmoid junction at colonoscopy it was “tut tut.” If the senior house officer could not it was all encouragement and teaching.
I went to the fellowship examinations in London with a white fellow registrar in general surgery. He was asked to describe a cholecystectomy. I was asked rather aggressively to describe a hemilaminectomy, but only after the examiner had determined that I had no experience of the procedure. I failed, he passed. I got antidepressant pills from my GP, he was given a research post.
After four years as a rotating senior house officer and registrar I received my first summons from my higher surgical training committee.
“Do you really think that you will become a general surgeon?” they asked. I was 28, had two fellowships, had written two papers, and was completing a recognised registrar rotation in surgery in a teaching hospital. I had encountered no problems with my attitude or capability. “Yes,” I replied.
It was at that point that he appeared. He sat down and all eyes turned to him. He didn't beat about the bush though I had never worked for him. He told me that I was being quite unrealistic. He went on to remind me that I was Indian and he took me through the fate of all the previous Indian registrars in the city I was working in. “So you see, not one has made it,” he said gravely.
There were six other consultants present who just sat there studying their pens. The committee had found me unsuitable for further training because I was Indian. I decided to move but to give my love for surgery one last go.
My submission for a research fellowship was superb. I had visited and had submitted the background to a thesis that would have been a natural extension of the work the department had previously undertaken. I asked someone very senior to look at my submission. It was returned politely but without a single helpful observation.
I shall never forget the interview. The young senior lecturer I would have worked with liked my submission. I interviewed well and he was keen to have me. The professor, who had never met me, was not. The job went to the white candidate, who had neither visited nor submitted a hypothesis. I was physically sick two months later when I discovered that my submission was the basis for his MD. I had to give up general surgery.
I flourished in a department with an Indian consultant at its helm. I wrote prodigiously, presented papers, and worked hard. He was about the only boss who ever genuinely wanted me to succeed. I have been a consultant in accident and emergency medicine now for 10 years and I beat six white contemporaries for my job.
Racism is not behind me—it doesn't stop when you finally arrive.
Is it worthwhile revisiting these events? I think so. There is far too much complacency in our midst, and racism is rife. It infiltrates every aspect of NHS life insidiously and it affects employment, education, and awards. It is ultimately damaging the NHS itself.
I know that some consultants will dismiss this article, and it is not for me to be sanctimonious. But I will not permit to go unchallenged the claim that the NHS is not racist.