A Brisbane-based doctor of Fiji-Indian background has been named the Australasian Sonologist of the Year 2018.
Dr Sandhir B Prasad, a sinologist at the Department of Cardiology at Royal Brisbane Hospital was given the award by the Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine- the peak professional body representing all ultrasound users in Australasia, earlier this month in Auckland.
Born and brought up in Fiji, Dr Prasad says it was his mother who was a nurse in a hospital in Labasa, who wanted him to become a doctor.
“My father's cousins were also surgeons, but it was my mother who inspired me to work and achieve the dream of becoming a doctor. I started studying Sonology in 2002 as a part-time when I was doing my cardiology training. Since 2008 I have been quite involved with a complete focus in Sonology,” Dr Prasad told The Indian Weekender in an interview.
Before moving to Australia, Dr Prasad trained in advanced cardiology in Wellington, New Zealand where his parents are living.
Dr Prasad says he is keen to go back and serve his country where there’s a shortage of cardiac facilities.
“A group of Fiji Indian cardiologists and cardiac surgeons have tried to set their services in Fiji. Two very prominent doctors in this space –Auckland's own Dr Parma Nand started the Friends of Fiji Programme that does open heart operations in Fiji and Dr Vijay Kapadia from Gold Coast who established the first cardiac catheterization lab in Suva, first in the whole of the South Pacific region,” he said.
“These two pioneers have paved the way for people like myself who are keen to go back and serve our motherland.”
He has an advice for people striving for excellence in their respective fields.
“Prepare yourself to work hard, dream and do it.”
