One patient made an overtly racist remark in front of me, and I just threw him off my list

Dr Shahid Dadabhoy

He attended medical school in Scotland and says that even as students the culture excludes ethnic minority doctors.

"There are a lot of cultural barriers to what you can and can't do. If you don't drink and you're from a particular culture, you don't access, information gets smaller and smaller."

He said sometimes the racism was overt.

He told of the time a colleague was in a tutorial, where the teacher referred to a helpline where all you would get was a "stupid Paki".

'Racist minority

Even now, in practice with his father in Chingford, north London, Dr Dadabhoy says he comes across racism.

"The majority of patients are fine, but there are a significant minority who are racist."

"One patient made an overtly racist remark in front of me, and I just threw him off my list."

He said he would allow his two-year-old daughter to go into the NHS if she wanted to.

"Whatever profession, including the NHS, that any son or daughter wished to go into, I would encourage them to go into it, whatever racism there is in that profession, and actually face it out," he said.