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Asian Voice - Saturday 21st April 2012
ONE TO ONE Keith Vaz MP with Mr Tony Kochhar
Consultant Shoulder, Elbow & Upper Limb Doctor at Shoulder Doctor, London Biography Tony Kochhar (www.shoulderdoctor.co.uk) is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in central London. He is one of the country's leading shoulder surgeons and also runs the country's centre of excellence for the treatment of repetitive strain injuries (www.rsispecialist.co.uk). Originally from Essex, his undergraduate training was at Guys Hospital and he completed his training at the Royal National Orthopaedic hospital in London and in centres of excellence around the world. He was one of the youngest ever Specialist Registrars in the country and one of the youngest Consultant Orthopaedic surgeons. He is married with two sons and currently lives in Kent. 1) What inspired you to begin your career in medicine? A. I was going to do Mathematics at Oxford University but my father told me that if I did medicine he would buy me a snooker table. I have been grateful to my father every day since. It is a privilege to be a surgeon. 2) What is your proudest achievement? A. I have been privileged to learn from the best shoulder surgeons in the world. I spent several months in New York and also spent six months learning from arguably the best shoulder surgeon in the world, Dr Lafosse, in
France. It gives one great satisfaction to deliver excellent care to patients and I strive to improve upon that each and every day. 3) Please tell us about your current position? A. I am a Consultant Orthopaedic surgeon. I specialise in shoulder and upper limb surgery and am the Director of the London Bridge Shoulder Unit at London Bridge Hospital, Central London. I also founded the London RS I clinic, which is the country's centre of excellence for the treatment of repetitive strain injuries. 4) Who has been the biggest influence on your
career to date? A. There are two. The first is Dr Jas Gill a consultant cardiologist at Guys Hospital, who I met Dr Gill when I was a medical student. He inspired me not to give up on my dream of being a leading surgeon in London. At that time everybody around me advised me that it would be impossible to be a leading surgeon in
London and be a turbaned Sikh. The second is Dr Laurent Lafosse. He is arguably the best shoulder surgeon in the world. He took time and dedication to teach me how to be an excellent shoulder surgeon and leader in this field and inspired me to strive only for excellence and to make sure that every patient was
treated to the best of my abilities. 5) What is the best thing about your current role? A. Working in an international hub like central London allows me to treat patients from different backgrounds and from around the world. My practice involves treating a wide spectrum of patients from the elderly with conditions such as shoulder arthritis all the way through to professional sports people. Last week a Saudi industrialist travelled from the Middle East to see me so that I could advise him on his shoulder problems but also to consult on a health and wellness program for all his employees in Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East. I am able to treat patients as I would hope to be treated with best practice and the latest cutting edge techniques. 6) And the worst? A. The worst part of my role is seeing patients who have been treated inappropriately or poorly for several months or years. This saddens me greatly. I set up the London RSI clinic specifically because of the problems patients had encountered previously. They had spent months or years being treated without any improvement in their symptoms and this had led to severe long-term pain which was sometimes career ending. 7) What are your long term goals?
A. The support that I have had throughout my career has been immense and I would not have achieved so much without it. I would like to give something back to the community that has been so supportive, both philanthropically but also by being a mentor to the younger members of our community. 8) If you were Prime Minister, what one thing would you change? A. I am very proud of the National Health Service. The one thing I would like to ensure is that the money spent in the NHS is not wasted and that every member of this country has an equal opportunity of receiving first-class health care. 9) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figures would you like to spend your time with and why? A. I would have loved to have met the forefathers of Indian independence such as Bhagat Singh and Mahatma Gandhi. They were true selfless visionaries and we would not be as successful or prosperous as we are today without them. I would also have loved to have hung out with some of the with the Indian cricket team of the 1970s such as Bishan Bedi. Bedi was one of the best ever spin bowlers and as Captain of India he never pulled his punches when his team were not treated fairly.
Punjabis celebrate Vaisakhi at 10 Downing Street Continued from page 1 This time the PM ensured he was around for at least 40 minutes, clapping and dancing to the tunes of some nice Punjabi music, as Kulveer Ranger, Mayor of London’s Director of Environment and Digital London and other guests joined to do a little bit of that traditional ‘bhangra’ steps. The whole room roared with greetings- ‘jo bole so nihal sasriyakal’, just before the Mr Cameron stepped onto the raised platform to give his formal address. He said, “You are all extremely welcome. The theme of Vaisakhi is prayer and it is indeed a time to celebrate with loved ones. “I must share a story from my younger days. I had a friend who ran a sub post office and I was in
Stafford Gurudwara with him. He suddenly came and told me that I have to give a speech in front of people who are visiting the Gurudwara. I did not know what to say. So my friend leaned on to me and whispered into my years some key points about the community. He said when you are making a speech to Punjabis and Sikhs you must remember two very simple things. First Sikhs have won the most number of Victoria crosses than other Asian communities in Britain and the values of the Sikhs are family, enterprise, self reliance and responsibilities. These qualities make the country so great. “Your communities have indeed demonstrated some of the values I believe are essential for building a stronger and
better society: support for the family, a belief in enterprise, a pride in self reliance. The immense contribution to the cultural and economic fabric of this country is clear to see. In every area you have excelled and in doing so have further enriched our society. “I had a look at the business directory this year and it had at least 10,000 Punjabi/Sikh names. It is a huge honour to have Tom Singh from New Look and many such icons in this gathering. It is a privilege to have Monty Panesar amongst us.” “There were some gap in politics, but now we have Paul Uppal and of course Lord Indarjeet Singh, whom I have so many times woken up listening to. He is the first turbuned Sikh in the
House of Lords. I must thank you for the huge contribution to this country. Approximately 700,000 Sikhs in a country of 60mn is a clear sign of an integrated and successful nation.” Present as guests were Rami Ranger, Baroness Warsi, Eric Pickles MP, Lord Singh, Paul Uppal MP, the Singh twins, businessman Tom Singh, hockey player Ashpal Kaur Bhogal with his younger brother and father. The gathering also had many other dignitaries and guests that included names like Cllr Chaz Singh, Deputy Lord Mayor, Plymouth, members of the Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, doctors, authors and media representatives. It was interesting to note that many journalists and community
members who were otherwise seen in every event was missing from this event. One wonders if they were not invited, or they politely declined to come to such a significant gathering. Vaisakhi at Downing Street for some was probably a once in a life time experience, hence there was almost a frenzy to click photograph with PM Cameron or take an autograph from Monty Panesar as the young girls laughed joked about getting hitched with this young cricketer. Statistics from the Office for National Statistics estimate that there are approaching nearly a million people of Punjabi origin in this country. Besides Hindu Punjabis, there are so many Sikhs as well. Like
all major faith groups, Sikhism, a progressive religion was well ahead of its time when it was founded over 500 years ago. The Sikh religion today has a following of over 20 million people worldwide and is ranked as the worlds 5th largest religion. Sikhism preaches a message of Devotion and remembrance of God at all times, truthful living, equality of mankind and denounces superstitions and blind rituals. Sikhism is open to all through the teachings of its 10 Gurus enshrined in the Sikh Holy Book and Living Guru, Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Asian Voice will pay more tribute to this extraordinary community through our British Punjabis magazine due to be published end of April/beginning of May.