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, 1962 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 of respect for the
medical profession, maybe more 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.
Exercise 1 :
Dear Anoo,
I hope you're well. I'm fine and having an excellent time. I've just finished my post-graduate
I hope you're well. I'm fine and having an excellent time. I've just finished my post-graduate
and I can't believe I've
been here for years already. I've decided to
stay here because the clinical here is so
good, and the National Service is so
impressive. And there's another reason. I've met a beautiful English woman,
she's a paediatric
, and she's agreed to
marry me! I've got a job as a in the same
hospital, so everything is going well.Of course, I miss you all in Bombay, but
I hope to visit you soon, and with my new wife.
All the best,
Rajan
All the best,
Rajan
Source : http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-for-medicine-a-doctors-view
