Dr Sanjay Joseph loves Darwin as much as the city loves him. However, moving to Darwin was not his first choice.
"After high school, I had applied everywhere around Australia for a medical degree, and unfortunately, at the time, I didn't get through to the University of WA. I think I was ready to go ahead with engineering like any other Indian child. I got an offer last minute to come to Darwin to study medicine," he tells SBS Hindi.
Highlights:
- Dr Sanjay Joseph was NT Nominee Young Australian of The Year 2021.
- He is a medical practitioner in Darwin and co-founder of Healthy Start Darwin.
- Dr Joseph works with the newly arrived refugees.
"It was a Commonwealth-supported seat, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to experience a different place and challenge myself."
He is a junior doctor at the Top End Health Service and is also working to improving the health and wellbeing of the community.
In 2016, Dr Joseph co-founded Healthy Start Darwin, an organisation - an education project that provides refugees with health information and helps them transition to Australian life. For his work and dedication to improving the health and wellbeing of all Territorians, he was named NT Young Australian of the Year 2021.
Before that, he was also named the National Junior Doctor of the Year at the National Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Councils Awards in Canberra in October 2020.
Dr Joseph is passionate about helping anyone who is in need. His organisation 'Healthy Start' promotes health literacy for newly arrived refugees.
He says he wants to fill the gaps and fix the issues he sees and the results motivate him to do more.
I have been in a fortunate position to experience and see these gaps first hand.
"My main motivation was that my parents were migrants, and I myself come from this ethnic background. We, unfortunately, experienced a lot of racism and all other difficulties coming from a different background. With that what I found is that instead of complaining about it or feeling sorry about it, the fact that empowering yourself with knowledge comes with great confidence and a safety net," he says.
"So one motivation that I see myself going through, not exactly what the newly arrived refugees have gone through, but be able to alleviate that little bit of the burden and insecurity of not knowing what they need to face and giving them tools to work with is what motivates me," he explains.
Though born and brought up in Perth, Dr Joseph feels a great connection with Darwin. He has been living in Darwin for almost10 years now.
He says the environment, the patients that he gets to see every day and the beauty of nature around the NT have kept him attached to the place.
"My mom keeps telling me every day to come back. I have to think about it one day, and I will be coming back home."
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