A STUDENT doctor travelled thousands of miles from Down Under to see hospital medics at work in Bradford.

Rashmee Dhunnoo, a final-year medical student, has just spent one month at Bradford Royal Infirmary as part of her postgraduate degree training at the Central Clinical School of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia.

Rashmee, who is originally from Mauritius, said coming to Bradford beat fellow students’ choices of London and Edinburgh because it was more “friendly”.

She worked for two weeks on BRI’s gastroenterology unit and wards, a week on the endoscopy unit and clinics and another fortnight on the medical assessment unit (MAU) and ambulatory care unit (ACU). She said: “It’s been an amazing experience and I’ve seen at first hand the fantastic camaraderie that exists at BRI and the extra mile that staff go to for their patients.”

She added: “BRI is such a friendly place and whereas fellow students have gone to hospitals in big capitals like London and Edinburgh, I feel I have really benefited from coming here because it is smaller, more intimate, has some fantastic friendly staff and yet has huge volumes of patients.”

Her placement was organised thanks to Bradford Consultant Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist, Sulleman Moreea’s links with his native homeland of Mauritius, where he has introduced endoscopy services and instigated training and workshops. Dr Moreea said: “One of the personal reasons why I am so passionate about giving colleagues in my native Mauritius and other developing countries the experience of coming to the UK, is so they can learn our skills and standards and take them back to their own countries and establish them there. We have a first-rate health care system here in Bradford and it’s a pleasure to show it off to Rashmee who has a bright medical future in front of her.”

During Rashmee’s visit she was able to see a Fibroscan liver machine being used for the first time. She said: “It’s something we’ve only heard about in Sydney as there the machine is kept in the radiology department and we, as students, have never witnessed what it can do at first hand.” She was also able to observe patients with Haemocromatosis which is a rare genetic condition where the body produces too much iron. And she experienced patients being treated for hepatitis C.

“The Medical Assessment Unit has also been a great experience as every patient in the unit has a different condition so you have to have a real depth of medical knowledge and the knowledge I have gained as a result has been incredibly beneficial.”

As well as making observations, Rashmee has also written a short article on a rare cause of bleeding.