Osama
A local Wolverhampton boy, Osama studied in London for six years and then moved back to work at New Cross Hospital.
Published: 18 October 2017
He now lives at home with mother and his grandparents. After years of independence at university, he sometimes struggles with being under their watchful eye. Osama has a sister who is away at University studying maths; she’s the only non-medic in the family.
Medicine runs in Osama’s family, both his parents are medics. Osama’s family came to Europe from Baghdad after the Gulf War broke out. Osama was born in Baghdad but him and his family moved to Holland and then later to the UK.
Osama loves technology and has learned to code in his spare time. He is working on a few start-ups and also runs conferences to teach secondary school students about how to get into University. He is close friends with Emeka and they often go for nights out in Birmingham.
Becoming a doctor wasn’t Osama’s first career choice. As a young teenager he was into maths, but his mum insisted that “caring for others is the most noble thing you can do”. He has always wanted to be a surgeon as he feels surgery creates an instant impact on someone’s life.
When Osama first became a doctor he swore that he would never put in a catheter, he was horrified by the idea of it. But during one of his first night shifts he was asked to put in not one but three catheters in a row! It was very daunting, but he did them all and now no longer worries about it.
Building a good relationship with his patients is very important for Osama; for him “laughter is the best medicine”.
Q&A with Osama
What was it about being a doctor that attracted you to the role?
My mum! She encouraged me to go in to the profession and I haven’t looked back since.
What are the most rewarding parts about being a doctor?
The most rewarding part for me has been the patients. I love making their lives a little easier and I understand that being in hospital isn’t nice for everyone, so I like being there for people. The reason I want to go in to surgery is that in my eyes, surgery has the quickest impact on people’s lives - they have an operation, they recover and they become much better. So my ultimate ambition is to be a surgeon.
And the most frustrating part about being a doctor?
Paperwork! There’s so much paperwork - it’s crazy. We have to deal with quite a lot of it - that’s one of the draw backs for sure.
How has it been having the cameras follow you?
At first it was very intimidating. I’d say I was usually a confident person. But I didn’t realise the camera was so big and I didn’t realise it was going to be so intrusive. But after a while I did get used to it and I really got along with the camera crew - which really helped. I had the same camera crew for the whole two months so that really helped and I built up a good rapport with them.
Why did you want to get involved?
I was a big fan of the series and I was a medical student in Chelsea and Westminster when that was filmed. So I knew some of the doctors there who felt like role models and thought that maybe I could be someone else’s role model by doing this. And also, before this year, there have been lots of contract issues etc with junior doctors. And there is a lot of positivity that hasn’t been portrayed and I felt that this show would be a really good way to show that the NHS is a really good system - a system we should be really proud of - around the UK and worldwide
What do you think viewers will take away from having watched the show?
I hope viewers will be able to take away a sense of pride over the NHS - proud that they are paying towards it because I think it is something to be proud of. I hope how amazing the system is, is transmitted to the public.
