Professor Ali Jawad: challenges faced by overseas graduates

I remember one of the, one of the jobs I got, one of the consultants came in and he said, “Look, I generally don’t think doctors who qualified overseas are as good as local graduates.” And he said, “It’s nothing personal because I am a Northerner,” and he said, “I’m really quite plain with people, frank with people and I just generally will tell them what I think.” So I was really petrified, I must admit, I didn’t even tell my wife when I got home, I said, “My God, there is another Saddam coming here.” So I just kept my head down and started work on July 1st and really talked to Sister, everyone -- they said, “Well, he likes this,” so I really did everything that he wanted. And after two weeks his secretary rang me to say, “Ali, come in, he wants you, the boss wants you!” I said “Fine.” I thought, “God Almighty!” And walking through these Nightingale wards to go to his office I could hear my heart thumping because I thought, “That’s it, I’m finished.”

So I went in, I said, “Good morning,” he said, “Sit down, sit down.” I couldn’t believe it, the boss is telling me to sit down. He said, “You know, you’re brilliant, what I told you four weeks ago, I think I am the most cynical human being that you could ever come across,” which is really funny. He says, “To be honest with you I never thought really an overseas doctor who was better than a local graduate and you changed my mind.” And he says, “I am going to help you be a consultant in this country, if you want to stay I will help you get to the top because you deserve it and also because you taught me a lesson.”