Minority Ethnic and Religious Communities: Cultural and Economic Contribution

Lord Kakkar Excerpts

Thursday 24th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kakkar]

My Lords, I too congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, on having secured this important debate and on his thoughtful introduction to it. I take the opportunity afforded by the debate to draw your Lordships’ attention to the important contributions made by healthcare workers and doctors from the Indian subcontinent to the delivery of healthcare in our country. In so doing, I declare my own interest as consultant surgeon at University College Hospital in London and professor of surgery at UCL.

It is well recognised that, since its inception in 1948, the National Health Service has been dependent on the dedicated service and contribution of a wide range of communities, many from overseas, to ensure that healthcare can be sustained and delivered to all parts of the country. It is clear that, without those important contributions, not only the delivery of everyday care but many important advances in biomedical research and developments in our healthcare system would not have been possible.

I am the son of two doctors who completed their medical education in India and came here to the United Kingdom to complete their further education and training in 1961. They were able to come here because of a long-held national consensus that has welcomed those from a diverse range of communities who are prepared to come here, integrate and make a contribution to society more broadly. In return they were given opportunities to advance themselves. My mother continued to practise as an anaesthetist. My father was a professor of surgery and undertook fundamental research to identify the problem of thrombosis blood clots that occur in patients after surgery. He developed methods of preventing post-operative thrombosis that have changed clinical practice and saved the lives of many hundreds of thousands of patients around the world.

Contributions have been made in many other areas. Many from the Indian subcontinent made a contribution by going into general practice in difficult and deprived areas and delivering dedicated service. One of the great challenges our healthcare system now faces as these practitioners retire is how we continue to ensure that universal healthcare is provided in all parts of our country.

However, many people went back home to India and other parts of the Commonwealth where they made important contributions. What they learnt in our country drove them to adopt systems, technologies and outputs from the United Kingdom. Therefore, our life sciences and healthcare industries had a huge influence in the Commonwealth and the Indian subcontinent as a result of the training that those young doctors received in our country. As our national gaze turns more to the European Union, what arrangements will be made to continue to encourage medical trainees from the Indian subcontinent and the Commonwealth to come and complete their training here? How will we ensure that those opportunities are not lost so that those trainees go back to their countries fully understanding the great contributions that our own country has made to healthcare and promoting our life sciences industries in their countries? How will we ensure that the broad diaspora of doctors and other healthcare professionals from the Indian subcontinent are able fully to engage and promote our healthcare and life sciences industries in India and other parts of the Commonwealth? We should not forget that some 44,000 out of 240,000 registered doctors in the United Kingdom declare themselves Asian or British Asian—some 19%. It is vital that the resources which these fellow citizens bring are fully engaged to promote opportunities for British healthcare around the world.