The UK celebrates South Asian Heritage Month (SAHM) from 18 July to 17 August and NELFT is marking the month by sharing Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Deputy CEO), Dr Mohit Venkataram’s story.

The month recognises and celebrates the contributions the South Asian communities have made to the UK and 2024’s theme is ‘Free to be me’. Dr Venkataram shares his story of culture, traditions, values, the wonders that can happen when different cultures work together, and the continuous improvement that everyone must make to keep the world tolerant and ultimately aim for acceptance.

Dr Venkataram has crossed continents and seen many different cultures, experienced many different traditions and been a part of many different places. He has been in the UK for 23 years, and settled here after meeting his wife, who he now shares two teenage daughters with. He said:

“There are so many things that I have learnt here and so many experiences I have had here that have made me a richer human being.

“I want to be able to create that multi-culturalism in my family so we can continue to go wider and bring more emotional intelligence and resilience that benefits us and our community. Being part of a large family, in what is typical of Asian families is important to me but I also value for nuclear family set up that is so often seen in Western families.”

Dr Venkataram joined NELFT earlier this year as Deputy CEO from the neighbouring NHS Trust, ELFT (East London NHS Foundation Trust). He has extensive strategic and operational management experience across the NHS and social care sector. He said:

“At the heart of what we do here at NELFT is looking after our patients and users of service. Being multi-cultural or being open to the richness that different cultures can bring offers us so many opportunities to support our communities.

“We are very fortunate so many people from Asian and South Asian heritages have come to the UK and are working with us here at NELFT. It brings colour to what we do, and it helps us make services safer because we have a wider wealth of experiences and backgrounds which mean that before we just jump into a solution, we can look at is from different angles to help ensure it is patient-centric and person-centred.

“At NELFT we have people from all over the world including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri-Lanka and even within those South Asian cultures there are differences and nuances that create opportunities for more empathetic patient care.”

Dr Venkataram shares advice for allies of the South Asian community. He said:

“I say be open to learning, be mentored from people of different backgrounds to understand the challenges those people are facing. Work with people to understand what is needed and how you can be supportive.

“Stand up for those facing discrimination, walking by or being a passive bystander is just as bad as doing the action. Stand up when you see something is wrong.

“It is important to recognise that not everyone is ready to be an ally, and people may not be there yet to want to understand or want to mix their cultures, and their reasoning may not make sense to us. However, let’s support these colleagues and patients too. Only by moving together can we make things better not only for ourselves but also for our patients and our children.”