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'Without you we cannot function': Scottish surgeon turned MP says immigrants essential to NHS survival
11 August 2024, 12:48
A leading surgeon and recently elected MP has warned that without immigrants, the NHS simply "cannot function".
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Scottish MP Dr Zubir Ahmed - whose father moved from Pakistan to Scotland in 1963 and became a taxi driver - won the Glasgow South West seat for Labour in July.
"The last couple of weeks aren't about immigration - they are more about people who feel alienated from power," he exclusively told LBC.
One of the country's leading cardiovascular surgeons, Dr Ahmed says his desire to speak out on the benefits of immigration comes in a bid to thank "those people who have felt alienated, in some cases, [and] not accepted by this country, despite the great contributions they were making."
His comments come in the wake of recent UK riots, stemming from the spread of misinformation following the Southport attack, which left three young girls dead.
Speaking LBC's Paul Brand, the MP for Glasgow South West said that "in the modern NHS, it's absolutely true without those people there we would not be able to function."
"Last week I did a kidney transplant. I, a second-generation Pakistani, was the main surgeon," he explained.
"Across the table from me someone from an Irish background; at the top end, the anaesthetist was a second-generation person from the Indian subcontinent; my scrub nurse was Bulgarian."
The surgeon, who continues to perform operations during parliamentary recess, said that immigrants form an intrinsic part of the health system that binds the nation.
He went on to dissect the links between immigration and the violence seen at recent protests, with the MP noting: "It's an artificial synthesis to discuss racism with that thuggery - the two bear no resemblance."
"All of us in political life can have perfectly reasonable conversations around migration policy without thinking somehow it's acceptable to burn the car of a care worker who has done an eight hour shift looking after the most vulnerable in society, or go and abuse Filipino nurses in the North of England."
"When I was asked about my views of immigration in the health service, that was the context I was making my point."
"I do not couple the immigration debate with what's gone on in last two weeks -whatsoever."
Dr Zubir, who grew up in a working-class community, admits he could barely speak English when he started primary school.
Now, the doctor is looking to denounce the "thuggery" seen at riots and separate that from the issue of immigration.
"The last couple of weeks aren't about immigration - they are more about people who feel alienated from power, lack of opportunity, the speed of life, and I hope as a parliamentarian I can help to improve that in the next four to five years...."
Caller Morgan thinks there's disinformation being spread by media about the riots
It follows Dr Zubir's comments to the Daily Record on Sunday, in which he highlighted that "it is no coincidence that the health service was founded in 1948, the same year Empire Windrush came to the shores of Britain."
Adding: "Immigrants have been in the DNA of the NHS from the day it was formed and without them the NHS would be in existential crisis."
"And to all the people working in our health service from all walks of life, I want to thank them, and to say Britain and Scotland are as much their home is it is my home or anybody's home."
He concluded: "I still believe this is the best place to live for a Muslim, a Pakistani or a Brit than anywhere else. I have no intention of going anywhere and I will continue to bring up my family here."
