United in caring

“In India the river Ganges (also called Ganga Mata, which means mother Ganges) flows through the very fabric of society, and is venerated for giving life and sustaining those who live on its banks; and I think the NHS is a bit like that for us…”

Meet Parkash Ramchandani, consultant in oral and maxillofacial surgery, and part of an NHS family dynasty.

There are no fewer than three generations of medics in his family, which started with Parkash’s father, Mohan. Mohan moved from Pakistan to the north west of England in 1972 to restart his medical training and after one year he earned enough to pay for his wife Devi and their five children to join him.

“When we moved, mum spent her time looking after the five of us, helping us learn English,” explains Parkash. “My dad worked hard and ended up being a consultant in medicine for the elderly in Manchester. He passed away following a stroke eight years ago having spent all his life looking after older people.”

Parkash started his NHS career doing dentistry for a year before moving to medicine, then surgery. After training in the north, he moved to the south coast and became a consultant at UHD in 2005.

His wife, Ragini, is an NHS dentist (and daughter of two doctors), their son Jai is an F1 junior doctor and about to start his house job in Portsmouth, while son Om works in neuroscience.

Parkash and Ragini celebrate their son Jai's graduation today on the 75th birthday of our NHS

Parkash is not the only Ramchandani at UHD, indeed his brother Mahesh is a consultant in our eye unit and a clinical director in our surgical care group.

Their eldest sister Nina worked as a nurse before training as a doctor and is a GP in Leicester, with her husband who is also a GP. Both of their children are doctors.

Sister Gita trained as a nurse before moving to Tanzania and starting her own cosmetic clinic, while brother Nand lives in America and works for the UN.

“I know it's a cliche but we are all united by a strong desire to do the very best for our patients. We have a deep respect and a warm affection for the NHS which has its roots in the way our parent's brought us up.

“I'm very proud of my family, who are very grounded and show honesty, humility, professionalism and all go above and beyond the call of duty, as many health workers do.

“We consider ourselves to be very lucky in our careers and it's an absolute privilege doing the work we do.”