The local media has already written about Dr Angraj Khillan, Victorian recipient of the Australian of the Year 2023. When I catch up with him, he is receiving his new status with a sense of elation and pride.
There were four nominations this year for the Australian of the Year (Victoria). Khillan took the coveted prize on 8 November at the function in Government House.
Khillan is a paediatrician. The children at his clinics call him Raj with fondness, a name he now goes by even in his wider circles.
As Director and Paediatrician at Western Specialist Centre, he has sunk his teeth into his profession and gone beyond that to establish The Health Awareness Society of Australia (HASA) in 2018, the works for which he has been largely recognised (more on that later).
Born in small town Moga, Punjab, Khillan did his primary school education there before his father, a vegetable vendor, moved to Haridwar, Uttarakhand. His father continued with his small grocery business which Khillan, the youngest of seven siblings occasionally helped after school.
Hardiwar is India’s popular destination where Hindus come for a dip in the sacred Ganga River. While enrolled at the Pannalal Bhalla Municipal Inter College, Khillan had his side gig after school – selling flowers and other puja items to devotees. After that he would begin studies from “10 pm till 3 am”. The money would fund his education.
Khillan completed his medical degree and MD in paediatrics from King George’s Medical University, Lucknow. For his family and relatives, he was the benchmark that could stand as a model. “I am the only doctor in my family,” he proudly says.
As in life, he found his struggles were infused with rewards going by his career trajectory.
Khillan worked in Delhi in both public and private hospitals getting a feel of both the sectors. But working in the private sector, he was a bit disillusioned with the way “things were controlled” and took it as a sign to move on.
That’s when Saudi Arabia happened and he worked there for four years after which he went to the UK gaining further training and obtaining his MRCP, FRCP degrees.
Later, when one of his friends suggested he come to Australia, Khillan came to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide in 2004. After three, years in Adelaide, Khillan moved to Darwin—a phase that would give his work more meaning.
“I would hop inside a chartered plane, visit aboriginal communities, attend morning clinic and come back by evening,” he recalls. “Sometimes we ended up staying the night, sitting with the community, eating food with them.”
“What fascinated me in working with aboriginal children was the fact that the clinical cases were far worse that what I witnessed in India. There were children plagued with kidney issues, heart failure, infected ears and nose, and much more.”
With very few sub specialists in these areas, Khillan ended up managing all paediatric cases—tending to about 30 children a day.
He was exposed to the stark realities of life—poverty, lack of education, alcohol addiction and crowded living standards with as many as 10 people occupying a one-roomed house, where chances of infection were very high.
In 2010, Khillan moved to Melbourne to work at Sunshine and Werribee Mercy Hospitals. The challenges of moving to a new place and not knowing anyone were real. “The worst thing with moving to a new place is social isolation and the challenges of finding a new house, new friends, and overall belonginess.”
However, at the same time, one develops resilience and adapts to the changes, notes Khillan.
Fortunately for him, a doctor had already founded the Overseas Medical Graduates Association (OMGA) in 1989, which needed to be “reenergised”.
Khillan brought OMGA to life literally meeting doctors at every hospital and asking them to be a part of the network. Today the organisation has about 400 doctors. “This is a platform where any doctor can raise his concerns or talk about issues and also help new doctors assimilate to the new life here.”
Apart from the social activities, OMGA conducts academic activities for GPs such as worskhops and conferences. “We’ve also raised funds—150,000 dollars for India during COVID, 53,000 dollars for the bushfires here,” says Khillan.
In his personal capacity, he has also raised funds to raise awareness on mental health.
More important, Khillan founded HASA based on needs that the multicultural community in Victoria face. Working in the western suburbs where 50 per cent of his patients come from multicultural backgrounds, he found “sometimes advise is not being followed, sometimes it is partially followed. There are conflict of values, sometimes it is the mother in law who has the final say, there are social stigmas, fear of disapproval from society and the community, etc. In all this, the child is neglected.”
And as the pandemic has made obvious, mental health of people suffered but not many were willing to talk about it because of the labels. Not just that, there were many issues that the community would not openly talk about. Autism, domestic violence, epilepsy, PTSD, to name some. “If my child has epilepsy, who will marry her?” is one of the refrains he hears.
Realising that working at an individual level was not effective, Khillan founded HASA to get help from other doctors in the community. The task of bridging knowledge with the cultural divide is only just starting.
But with the award, Khillan believes he has found a platform where he can now raise these concerns and awareness for the wider community to benefit.
“The award is definitely an honour for me. It gives me a sense of security.”
Khillan’s attitude is pragmatic. “We as a community need to work on both our mental and physical health,” he says. “I do the things which make me happy, that’s the biggest motivation for me. I don’t expect anything else.”
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The local media has already written about Dr Angraj Khillan, Victorian recipient of the Australian of the Year 2023. When I catch up with him, he is already receiving his new status with a sense of elation and pride. #TheIndianSunhttps://t.co/HVvouPUaVD
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