Women in general practice | Women as patients: Zirva Khan

Jun 07, 2021, 10:31 AM

Dr Zirva Khan explains the value of working within a community of the same cultural background.

Women as patients 

Image credit: Under Wraps by Liz Lee and Susie Freeman ©2021 Chloe Stewart 

It takes for someone to kind of relate to their own and I think equally perhaps for South Asian people perhaps because they’ve always felt like they’ve never been taken seriously, actually when someone sits down and talks to them about their problems and how they feel and how it’s affecting them and they actually understand what you’re saying it can make a huge difference. My brief experience with some South Asian patients has been, is that I think for example, you know living in a multi-generational household, the kind of pressures that might be faced by South Asian professionals, or you know, females, men from South Asian households. Try to explain that to a white doctor that, for example, I don’t know, your mother-in-law has a problem with you going to work, and that’s a big source of your depression, and actually how are you going to deal with that because you somehow have to get your marriage to survive, and also you want to do what you enjoy. Those things aren’t necessarily unpicked unless it’s from someone from that background who might be able to actually divulge into that with confidence.  
Please note that the views expressed in these recordings are those of the interviewees, within their historical context, and may not represent RCGP views or policy.

If you want to hear more, you can listen to the full TeamGP Perspectives podcast about Being a South Asian doctor