“Meaningful work”

Melbourne’s Dr Abhishek Verma is joint GP of the Year 2022 follow him into the profession and take on successful specialized careers.

Dr Verma is also involved in education, with roles at the University of Newcastle and Monash University. As well in governance roles, he serves on the Victorian Medical Board (its youngest ever member, taking on the role when he was just 33); on the Boards of two rural health services; on the expert committee for Standards in General Practice, and is an RACGP examiner.

Which brings us to the question of the challenges that overseas doctors routinely face in requalifying in Australia.

“I absolutely agree that it is a difficult process, given my own experience on medical boards dealing with this,” Dr Verma replies. “However qualified you may be –with post graduate degrees even – it could be difficult to get into the system. But there are services out there that could help you in the process, and doctors who could mentor.

In the end it will be worth it.”

He adds, “Did you know some 52% of GPs in this country are overseasqualified? When I worked at Narre Warren I learnt a lot from the doctors there, and they were trained in India or Sri Lanka or Pakistan. In fact, I learnt more from them than from med school.”

Talking of med school, what advice does he have for students about to start at uni?

“Medicine is such a diverse field that there’s something for everybody,” he observes.

“Explore carefully the direction that you want to take – whether in medical administration or medical law or surgery or any of the other specialisations.”