PRASAD, Prof Pratap Nayaran: South Asia region president 2013-16
“Greetings from Kathmandu”
What work are you doing currently?
I am currently head of the Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine, in the Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital, in Kathmandu, Nepal. I also serve as the thesis guide for MD and post-graduate courses in general practice and n Emergency Medicine.
I am also the President of the General Practitioner Association of Nepal (GPAN). Over the years I have held many roles within various medical bodies in Nepal including as life member and council member of the Nepal Medical Association; examiner for under-graduate course within the country and Christian Medical Academic Science, in Vellore, India.
What does it mean to be a family Dr in your country?
A primary and emergency life saving care provider,
What are your areas of interest within the profession?
Within the Institute of medicine at the University, my interests are family health and emergency medicine services, teaching and research. Privately, they are preventative medicine and primary care,
You have a long history of involvement in WONCA in the South Asia region, what do you enjoy about the WONCA involvement?
I enjoy attending council meetings (on WONCA Council since 2001) and WONCA conferences. I was on the membership committee (2001 to 2010) and now am a member of the conference committee. In this time I have enjoyed seeing the South Asia region development.
Are there some other high points of your career?
In 2002 and 2010, I received the prestigious education award from the Ministry of Education and Culture, Government of Nepal.
In 2002, I received a travelling scholarship award from the Royal College of General Practitioners which took me to the United Kingdom. I learned about the RCGP exam process and evaluation system by being an observer in these processes.
In 2009, I was lucky enough to receive the Australian Aid Fellowship award for study at the University of Melbourne, for leadership training in health sector. During this training, the project that had been assigned to me was strengthening and improving the emergency services in Nepal. This training guided me on how to develop emergency medicine in my hospital and develop emergency medicine as sub speciality for general practice. I achieved this goal in my institute and started a Doctorate of Medicine (in emergency medicine) from 2011.